Gujarat HC takes up suo moto PIL, says news reports indicate 'state heading towards health emergency of sorts'

Tthe state on Sunday reported a record 5,469 fresh covid-19 cases and 54 deaths in the last 24 hours

Citing media reports on "harrowing tales" of "unimaginable difficulties" and "unmanageable conditions of the infrastructure", the Gujarat High Court on Sunday filed a suo moto public interest litigation (PIL) while constituting a special division bench that will hear the matter on Monday.

The chief justice notified the constitution of the special bench later on Sunday night. The court has said that it is intervening since the news reports "indicate that the state is heading towards a health emergency of sorts."

High Court Chief justice Vikram Nath ordered the court's registry to register the PIL titled, "Uncontrolled Upsurge and Serious Management Issues in COVID Control”." He ordered Chief Secretary of Gujarat government, Principal Secretary of department of Medical, Health and Family Welfare, Secretary, Union of India, Department of Home, Government of India, among others, to be impleaded as parties in the litigation.

Read: India bans export of Remdesivir till Covid-19 situation improves

In the order, the HC chief justice has mentioned that he had a "dialogue" with senior law officers on April 6 when he expressed concerns regarding "upsurge of Covid-19 cases in the state" and also requested the State to take appropriate measures to control the virus spread. The order states that the "dialogue" was widely reported in the media.

"It has been five days. The newspapers, news channels are flooded with the harrowing tales, unfortunate and unimaginable difficulties, unmanageable conditions of the infrastructure, the shortfall and the deficit of not only testing, availability of beds, ICU, but also supply of Oxygen and basic medicines like Ramdesivir, etc."

On April 6, the court had suggested the law officers including Advocate General Kamal Trivedi to impose lockdown for three to four days to check the spread of the infection. Hours later, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced night curfew in 16 more cities apart from Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot.

The HC chief justice has stated in the order, "Had it been stray news here and there, I could have ignored it but the volume of report in the leading newspapers having nationwide circulation cannot be ignored. It is the time that the court must intervene." The order, referring to the news reports, states that these articles are "just a few depicting the picture and a bare perusal of the same would indicate that the State is heading towards a health emergency of sorts." Later the high court registry issued an order notifying the special bench comprising Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Bhargav D. Karia. The bench will take up the matter through video conference.

Meanwhile, the state on Sunday reported a record 5,469 fresh covid-19 cases and 54 deaths in the last 24 hours. The number of active cases rose to 27,568. The massive surge has jeopardised the health infrastructure with a large number of patients waiting outside the hospitals to get admitted. The demand for Remdesivir, an anti-viral injection, has also seen a massive rise in the state. For nearly a week, a large number of people have been lining up outside the hospitals and other places to get the vials.