COVID-19: Don't succumb to public pressure, use science to guide public interest, says Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court in Goa on Friday urged the state government to use medicine and science and not “public pressure” as guiding forces to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, while also directing the state government to not close grocery stores and also build robust mechanisms for delivery of essential goods.

The order by Justice M S Sonak comes a day after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that his government was forced to open grocery stores in the state, against his own will, in face of pressure from the public.

The order also came on a day when the state witnessed chaos in most parts, as people threw caution as well as “social distancing” norms to the wind, as they thronged grocery stores to buy essential goods in wake of the 21-day lockout announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week.

Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths

“The clamour of seeming majorities or those that clamour the loudest, may not necessarily correspond to the true public interest. The true public interest must be guided by scientific and medical opinion keeping in mind that the priority is to halt the spread of the virus and the pandemic. Though, the supply of essentials is vital, the same cannot be at the cost subordinating the main purpose of the lockdown i.e. halting the spread of the virus and the pandemic,” the order states.

“Public interest and the resolve to halt the march of this deadly virus must be the first and foremost concern. The importance of 'social distancing' can therefore never be undermined or even compromised,” the high court order said.

The order also directed the state government to come up with an efficient system of home delivery of essential goods as per the directives of the National Disaster Management Authority and the Government of India.

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“The State Government and its agencies must be proactive in encouraging and facilitating home deliveries of essentials, so that, there is no need to visit grocery shops during the period of lockdown. It is not as if the people are interested in defying the curfew and queuing in front of the grocery shops and pharmacies. Therefore, if a robust system for home deliveries of essentials is in place, the implementation of the lockdown and the policy of social distancing will be achieved,” the order said.

“The decision to permit grocery shops to remain open, should not be construed as a dilution of the earlier resolve to put a system of home deliveries of essentials in place so that there is no necessity for people to access grocery shops personally and thereby dilute the lockout,” it added.

Earlier today, grocery stores ran out of stock within hours in the morning, as thousands of people, who had been confined to their homes since March 22 tried to panic buy essentials, including foodgrains, vegetables, milk, oil and bread.