Bombay High Court: A Division Bench of T.V. Nalawade and M.G. Sewlikar, JJ., directed that the persons who are aggrieved with regard to the care and treatment amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic can approach the Court directly.
Court has taken suo moto cognizance to see that all the authorities from all the districts which are under Court’s jurisdiction become active and they remain active till the virus is active.
Bench further observed that, the Court had earlier in of the orders directed the authorities to supply information with regard to the steps taken by them to contain the spread of virus in the village area.
“…on one hand the number of infected persons in city area is coming down on the other hand the number of infected persons from rural area is going up and the trend is still in upward direction.”
Though the inter-district travel has been prevented till 31-08-2020, yet, persons from cities like Pune, Mumbai, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), etc. returned to their native places also some have bought properties in smaller cities and shifted themselves due to the virus spread.
In the line with the observations, another observation by the Court was when Justice T.V. Nalawade went for Court inspection to Jalna. He went with necessary pass and at the entry point of Jalna, he noticed that there was no strict checking and police force posted there were not asking to show pass to anybody. Casual inquiry was being made with the travellers and they were allowing the vehicles from Aurangabad side to Jalna side. This approach must have helped in spreading of the virus in the parts of this region.
Strict vigil needs to be kept and unless that is done, the authorities will not be in a position to control the things.
Further with regard to public servants, Court stated that,
“…in the situation which is created by the virus the public servants need to be tested and the servants who are useless need to be removed from the service by fling complaints against them in police station under the special Enactments like Epidemic Disease Act, 1897, Disaster Management Act, 2005 etc.”
Further, the Court expects that every order made by this Court is communicated to the authorities from all the districts which are under the jurisdiction of this Court. These orders need to be communicated to the private institutions like private hospitals as action can be taken against them under the provisions of Special Enactments.
Another complaint that the Court noted was of an infected person who had no supply of oxygen and was complaining about breathlessness, but nobody was there to supply oxygen to him. Eventually, he died that night.
Culpable Homicide not amounting to Murder
Bench stated that, when such grievance as stated above are present, it becomes the duty of the authorities concerned to fix the responsibility and give the complaint to police as such conduct is not less offence of than culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
CCTV System
Court wants affidavit of all the authorities or concerned officers to show that there is an installation of a CCTV system in isolation centers. CCTV systems should be installed in private hospitals also where the treatment is being given to infected persons.
Court added that, in our society, there are many who cannot afford to pay charges of private hospitals. It is learned that many poor persons and the persons who have no influence are not able to get admissions in hospitals even when they are infected.
Hence, in view of the above circumstances, the Court allows all those persons who have a grievance with regard to the care and treatment of infected persons to approach the Court directly.
State to supply information in respect of reservation of beds in designated hospitals and use of those beds. Information about the availability of ventilators and the deaths due to the non-availability of ventilators also needs to be supplied.
Information on action taken against negligence shown in treatment to be given to the Court.[Registrar (Judicial) v. UOI, 2020 SCC OnLine Bom 836, decided on 31-07-2020]