HC: ENSURE VACCINATION OF ALL UP RESIDENTS WITHIN 3-4 MTHS
PRAYAGRAJ : The Allahabad high court on Friday directed the state government to ensure Covid-19 vaccination of all residents of Uttar Pradesh within three-four months’ time.
The court further asked the state government to apprise the court how it proposed to expedite the purchase of vaccines from the global market.
Taking note of the rise in Covid-19 cases in the rural areas, the court directed the government counsel to apprise the court on the next date as to how the state government was dealing with the surge of the pandemic in the rural, suburban areas and smaller cities of the state.
The bench comprising Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Ajit Kumar passed the order in a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) on the condition of quarantine centres in the state.
PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Friday directed the state government to ensure Covid-19 vaccination of all residents of Uttar Pradesh within three-four months’ time.
The court further asked the state government to apprise the court how it proposed to expedite the purchase of vaccines from the global market.
Taking note of the rise in Covid-19 cases in the rural areas, the court directed the government counsel to apprise the court on the next date as to how the state government was dealing with the surge of the pandemic in the rural, suburban areas and smaller cities of the state.
The bench comprising Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Ajit Kumar passed the order in a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) on the condition of quarantine centres in the state.
Advocate Tarun Agrawal, appearing for the State Election Commission (SEC), informed the court regarding the deaths of the polling officers and agents during polling (for the panchayat elections).
As per Agarwal, so far 77 deaths were reported from 28 districts while reports from other districts were still awaited. He also informed the court that the state government had decided to give compensation of Rs 30 lakh to the family members of the deceased polling officers. The bench further directed the magistrates concerned dealing with the cases related to the seized oxygen cylinders and Remdesvir, to dispose of such cases within a week of the case being instituted before them.
The court also directed the director general of police to immediately issue an advisory to police officers who had seized or would seize in future drugs like Remdesvir and oxygen cylinders from illegal possession, to ensure speedy disposal of such cases.
During the course of the hearing, the central and state governments’ counsel informed the court that 8.5 crore doses of vaccines were available for the month of May 2021. Further, the Central government was intending to procure vaccines from other vaccine producers also and for this purpose the conditions in the guidelines for the emergency use of vaccines had also been relaxed, the court was further informed.
The state government counsel informed the court that the Uttar Pradesh government had already floated global tenders for the procurement of vaccines.
On some media reports regarding a few hospitals complaining of lack of oxygen supply, the Lucknow district magistrate informed the court that an inquiry was conducted, in which it was found that the Sun Hospital of Lucknow was having sufficient oxygen cylinders as six jumbo oxygen cylinders were reported to be available on the day when a notice was published by the hospital regarding lack of oxygen supply. According to the DM, it was quite apparent that the hospital had, with a mala fide intention to create panic amongst the people, posted the notice showing scarcity of oxygen in the hospital. He further said that as far as the Samarth hospital was concerned it was a non-Covid hospital and had wholly illegally admitted the Covid patients and in respect of which the proceedings had already been drawn against the hospital by issuing a show cause notice.
The Lucknow DM said that he would instruct the officers concerned to ensure that there was no gap between the demand and supply of liquid medical oxygen in the district.
The court directed the Meerut district magistrate to hold a comprehensive investigation into the alleged incidents of death of Covid-19 patients due to lack of oxygen supply in Meerut in the recent past.
The court has fixed May 11 as the next date of hearing.
Earlier, on Tuesday, the court had taken note of the death of Covid-19 patients due to shortage of oxygen and had said that authorities responsible for procurement and supply of the gas are committing “criminal acts, not less than genocide”.