On the Twin Tower case of the Supertech Emerald Court project, the Supreme Court directed the flat buyers to return the money by February 28 …. Said, pay the builder loan by March 31 … According to the report of Amix, the refund should be given to the buyers

Guidelines issued by the Supreme Court on delay in the payment of corona death compensation…. Every state will have to appoint a nodal officer… Compensation will have to be given within 10 days… Compensation application will not be canceled on technical grounds

Amicus Curiae presented the report in the Supreme Court on the pending criminal case against MPs and MLAs …. demanded the formation of a monitoring committee to oversee the investigation …. Emphasis on speedy disposal of the case

After the Punjab Haryana High Court’s stay on the government’s decision of reservation to the locals in the private sector, the Haryana government filed an application in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s stay on the reservation order … Hearing will be held on February 7.

A 10-year-old Kerala girl has written to Chief Justice of India Justice N.V. Ramana thanking the Supreme Court and the judiciary for helping people afflicted by Covid-19. Moved by the missive, the CJI has written to her in return describing it as a joyful letter that has increased the stature of judges while doubling their responsibilities.

CJI Ramana said the letter touched his heart. The letter is from Lidwina Joseph of Class 5, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Thrissur. In her letter, she said that she was gravely worried at the deaths in Delhi and other parts of the country due to the coronavirus.

Lidwina said she learnt from her newspaper that the Supreme Court had effectively interceded to end the sufferings of people. The child also said she was happy and proud of the Apex Court action for ensuring supply of oxygen. The letter writer credited the Supreme Court of taking effective steps to bring down Covid-19 and its death rate. She thanked CJI Ramana for this and said she was proud because of the court’s feat.

Such was the effect of the letter that CJI Ramana immediately replied to her. He first of all thanked the child of her artwork showing a judge of the court. The CJI said he was more than impressed by the way she kept track of things happening in the country and her concern for the well-being of the people. CJI Ramana said she will surely grow up to be a responsible citizen of the country in the future and blessed her for her all-round success. The CJI has gifted the child a copy of the Constitution with his signature.

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Here’s the full text of her letter:

“I am Lidwina Joseph, studying in the 5th standard of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Thrissur. I read the main news of India from the newspaper The Hindu. I was much worried about the deaths at Delhi and other parts of country due to Corona. From the newspaper I understood that your honourable court have intervened effectively at the sufferings and death of ordinary people in fight against Covid-19. I am happy and feel proud your honourable court have moved orders for supply of oxygen and saved many lives. I understood your honourable court have initiated effective steps in bringing down Covid-19 and death rate in our country especially in Delhi. I thank you your Honour for this. Now I feel very proud and happy.”

By Manoj K. Srivastwa

Scene I

Memory has still not faded. The Central Government promises to deliver a $5 trillion economy by 2024. US President Obama himself served hot tea to the Prime Minister of India. The next US President Trump shook hands with PM as if India was a superpower. China withdrew its forces from the border as India refused to budge even an inch. India exported home-made vaccines to more than 100 countries stunning even China. Nonetheless, India even claims a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. But who has yanked India now!

Scene II

The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has besmirched the fantasy. Hospital and hospitality, both have collapsed in the pandemic. In cities such as the capital of India, people are dying at the gates of hospitals gasping for beds, oxygen and minimum support to survive, such as life saving drugs. Black marketeers vacuum the supply chain. Relatives of patients are doing tug of wars with oxygen cylinders. Hospitals managers are absconding, leaving patients & hospitals in the lurch for want of oxygen and medicines. The Delhi High Court threatens even black marketeers for contempt. The Supreme Court threatens of coercive action. The Allahabad High Court comments “Ram Bharose”. People rush the dead body of their close relatives directly into the Ganga without performing cremation and last rites for want of wood and money and corpses are floating down the Ganges at the UP-Bihar border, threatening marine life inviting more coronavirus infections. We are exposed to the world that we have never been a developing country, rather still a poor country. Even the hearts of China, Pakistan and Bangladesh were melted to offer or supply medical essentials to India as a kind gesture by good neighbours. This is the living status of metropolis. Imagine the harrowing health infrastructure and logistics in rural, peri-urban and tribal life. Government treats only 33% patients in rural areas and majority of 67% patients are still dependent on the private sector. In urban areas, 74% patients are catered by private hospitals and clinics. Even prior to this COVID pandemic, the highest cause of hospitalization was still the infection other than COVID-19 which is 31% of all deceases. Just 28% of the households in India are covered by Health Schemes or Insurance. The opposition vituperates the ruling Government for this mess and so is vice versa.

Scene III

After Corona Mata was being worshipped in Gopalganj of Bihar, now a new Corona Devi, the one-and-a-half feet-tall stone idol temple is consecrated at Irugur, Coimbatore. Before that Coimbatore has already a plague Mariamman Temple. Small pox is worshipped as Sheetla Devi contrary to what was discovered by Dr Edward Jenner. People celebrate Saturn (Shani) birthday on every Saturday whereas even scientists have not calculated the birth of the Universe but only estimated it at about 14 billion years ago. The present Prime Minister of India, per se, renders a statement in Parliament, the supreme legislative organ, that Plastic Surgery was done to Lord Ganesha sans any scientific evidence. State organises and drains out state fund on Kumbh and other religious festivities. Even the PMs of India and political leaders visit religious places to convey message indirectly to their respective electorates to derive political mileage which further buttresses religious belief whereas per contra the liberty to belief, faith and worship are personal rights and virtues. Nonetheless, majority of Indian people, per se, prefer orthodox unscientific religious practices to COVID protocols. Criticising the Supreme Court majority judgment allowing entry of women in Sabrimala Temple, RBI board member S. Gurumurthy tweeted, “Even if there is one in a million chance of a link (flood on the day of the judgment) people would not like the case decided against Ayyappan.” Lemon juice and cow dung are claimed to treat cancer. People erect places of religious worship with amassed wealth where even sometimes court has to intervene to settle the disputes. Even stone idol agitates its rights and drags its opponents to courts. People offer Namaz in thousands encroaching public street. Eid offerers throng market defying COVID protocols.

Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi per se is a project of Rs 1,100 Crore and erstwhile Babri mosque is to be rebuilt at the cost of Rs 100  Crore. There are more sacred places at almost every crossroad or busy street than Hospitals in the Country. The State hardly takes an objection despite 2009 judgments of the Supreme Court in the matter UOI Vs State of Gujarat. There are around 3.01 millions places of worship more than the temples of education, schools and colleges which is just 2.1 million. Believers in God are in a majority and their statistics influence not only the public election openly to get elected the Prime Minister or Chief Minister of their choice but also write up the destiny of the Country irrespective of the Constitution which resolves to establish a Secular state and the Scientific Temperament in society inter se. It seems the State per se grants passive approval to the popular public opinion rather than try to improve their thinking by including a more scientific approach to the various societal problems.

Religion in Space Technology

Nonetheless, this is an irony on the destiny of India that even the scientists first take a prototype of spacecraft to Balaji temple first before its launch. Our Defence Minister qua State emblazons a Rafale fighter jet with an “om” and decks it up with flowers, coconut and lemons before importing its first fleet. Is this not a paradox in the Indian Constitution?

Supreme Court too goes the way of religious practices

In case of the Indian Young Lawyers Association Vs State of Kerala (Sabarimala Temple), (2019) 15 SCC 580 the Supreme Court speaking through Justice Indu Malhotra (minority opinion) too ultimately sided with age-old practices of not to allow women of menstruating age and held that ‘ to practice their faith and belief in accordance with the tenets of their religion, irrespective of whether the practice is rational  or logical’ and ipso facto and de jure the Supreme Court too buttressed the right to belief and practice those religious practices which defies science. The Supreme Court did not even refer to an iota of Scientific Temperament which is equally conferred to the citizen under Article 51A(h) of the Constitution. Beware! All these events shape India’s destiny brick by brick that whither India to spearhead.

Whether religious belief is the destiny of India

But this is not a surprise to a rational Indian because a majority of Indians have different preferences than its constitutional values of Scientific Temperament as enshrined under Article 51A(h) of the Constitution of India. The Scientific Temperament in India is still in the thraldom of the liberty of belief. Why don’t we have class apart proportionate hospitals or other infrastructural facilities at every nook and corner of India like religious shrines? Have we ever preferred Science and Scientific Temperament to right to belief ? Did we ever demand hospitals, schools, or universities like Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge? Have we ever questioned our government as to why India has not ensured even a single Nobel prize in science for any Indian citizen since 1930 for 91 years after Sir C.V. Raman! No. Never. None of the manifesto of political parties claims so. This is how “we the people” shape our destiny. As you sow, so shall you reap. Doctor prescribes what the patient likes. People deserve their Government. Bernard Baruch rightly said, “Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.”

Who is the leader ?

The million-dollar question is then who is a leader, a person who follows people or people who follow their leader? L.K. Advani used to say that the Ram Janmabhoomi issue was a matter of belief and it could not be decided by court and ipso facto he followed people and people did not follow him. Had he found courage to tell the people that there were many more matters far more important than that issue, he would have evolved a leader in himself. Can our leader propel India to the status of superpower?

How religion is defined

When Swami Vivekananda enquired his guru Ramakrishna Paramhansa as to whether he could let him to see the God, Kali Ma, Ramakrishna replied, “Yes, the same way as I do see you.” Years later, when Swami Vivekananda was bombarded with same question, Vivekananda replied, “Serve humanity, you would find the God,” and ipso facto the God does not lie beyond humans. A religion may be hardly a manifestation of cultural and philosophical life. The Supreme Court interpreted Hindu Religion as ‘the way of life’ but what about right to belief of those religious practices which defy science. We have witnessed that some of religious places were raided by security forces across the globe to unravel the amassed wealth, centre of dreaded terrorists, explosives and many illegal and anti-social activities. Several sadhus taking a dip in Kumbh died by COVID infection. But the religious dons make people to believe the way, Wordsworth wrote ‘who has seen the wind, neither I nor you’ and thousands of lakhs have been believing their religious dons without asking why, what, when, where. People believe the God and have been worshiping with idols or without idols for centuries and the till now, none can let us know the address of God where one can find him like God particle Boson.

Heliocentric Vs Geocentric

Aristotle was the propounder of Geocentric theory of the Universe by the method of logical Deduction sans collection of any evidence and by assumption that God created the universe keeping man on earth at the centre and so the Sun revolves around the earth, whereas per contra Galileo was the exhibitor of heliocentric theory by the method of Induction of reasoning and practical experiments and affirmed Copernicus revolutions of the Sun for which Galileo was sentenced for 3 years and thereafter house arrest in blindness till his death and nonetheless he was forced to confess that “With a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, I abjure, curse, and detest the errors and heresies and generally every other error and heresy contrary to … … Holy Church and I swear that I will never more in future say or assert anything which may give rise to similar suspicion of me”. However, after about 193 years demise of Galileo, the prosecutor Church realised the Galileo was correct and wrongly prosecuted. The Scientific Temperament is antigen to theological and metaphysical beliefs whereas science is universal exact and proved by cause and effect.

Only science can be the eternal and destiny of India

Even when a pen slips out of hand it is because of Newton’s laws of motion. Every act or life time of both living and non-living objects are defined and determined by the laws of the nature. No law or force acts or exists on this earth and in the universe save the Newton’s laws of motion and Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. Nature’s law is so absolute truth in the entire universe that even a simple formula of mathematics E=mc² can predict the physical behaviour of any body or particle without even doing practical experiments and the law is equally and evenly applicable everywhere such as Earth, Moon, Mars, Sun  or even billions light years upwards in the Universe. The world’s most modern science of Boson Quantum Theory is named after an Indian Scientist Satyendra Nath Bose which propounded 26 dimensions in the Universe and discovered ‘Higgs Boson’ popularly known as God particle which was experimented by world leading scientists in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) beneath the France-Switzerland border where Higgs-Boson particles were found but India never aggressively pursued a Nobel Prize for him. Boson’s existence was proven by an experiment in 1995.

All religious places were closed in lockdown periods and it entailed no satanic effect on the life of the people or this universe and fact of the matter is that without religion, the universe can still survive but without science the universe is non est. Even Pope Francis did not rely on God for safety and was vaccinated in Italy against COVID-19 threats. People are deliberately conditioned to live the unscientific way. Lord Ganesh was found to drink milk but scientists proved it was surface tension. COVID-19 vaccine, life saving drugs, hospital treatments, aeroplane and landing on Moon and Mars, social media communications, drone cameras and mobile phones, weather forecast of recent Tauktae cyclone are all possible only by Science. Even now, DRDO has developed a medicine named 2-deoxy-D-glucose or ‘2-DG’ to cheat the coronavirus and check their mutation immediately. Nonetheless, government directives to observe social distancing and wearing masks along with constant analysis of the disease and research regarding its vaccine is in line with the Scientific Temperament as enshrined under Article 51A(h).

Right to belief Vs Scientific Temperament

A faith is a belief of a fact without any evidence to adduce to prove and ipso facto the constitutional guarantees of liberty to belief buttresses shackles of blind faith and quagmires of superstition and obscurantist practices. Whereas per contra A scientist propounds a hypothesis and proceeds to collect evidence to see whether that hypothesis is correct or not. A scientist employs Induction of reasoning as method by which he derives final results and tests his hypothesis on the basis of evidence and an experiment and cannot claim a proposition merely because of his personal likeness or convenience. India is still ruled by belief and not by science or scientific Temperament. Liberty of belief and Scientific Temperament, though both are constitutional goals under the Constitution but they are contrary inter se. Justice RA Jahagirdar observes “Only on the basis of the mass of scientific knowledge an age does not deserve to be called a scientific age. Probably when it is said that we live in a scientific age, it is meant that in our age there has been an intensification of inquiry and an acceleration of discoveries and inventions.”

Why to confer right to belief

Now the substantial question of law of public importance is as to why to confer a citizen or person a right to belief a thing which is non est at all or defies science particularly when innocent people are defrauded by unscrupulous religious dons. But despite 61 years of the adoption of the Constitution, India failed to invoke and enforce the constitutional duty of citizen to perform Scientific Temperament in their day-to-day life and modulate its citizen to ask why, what, when and how. Why is the colour of the sky or water blue? A right to belief dictates many beliefs and in some religion it is a symbol of heaven. But Sir C.V. Raman won the Nobel prize for discovering that it was the scattering of lights reflected from the deep ocean.

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Health is a pure science. But per contra, in India neither Science nor Scientific Temperament as enshrined under Article 51A(h) of the Constitution is crosshairs, neither for “We the people” nor for its Government. India qua State has slipped from the constitutional values of Scientific Temperament as enshrined under Article 51A(h) of the Constitution. A number of scientists wrote to the President of India that, “The progress of science also requires an environment of scientific temperament. Science cannot be conducted successfully in a society that does not respect science or the scientific community.”

The author is an Advocate on Record at the Supreme Court of India.

ILNS: A petition filed on Thursday in the Supreme Court, seeking a judicial enquiry into the Nashik gas leak incident that led to the death of 24 Covid-19 patients, while also urging the Court to directly register an FIR in the case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

The plea, filed by NGO Save Them India Foundation, further sought directions to all state and Union Territory (UT) governments of the country to initiate policies and guidelines for channelised and administered distribution of medical equipment.

It further urged the apex court to set up a technical committee for the monitoring of medical equipment crisis in India, to enforce the right to health and life enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The petition said it was the duty of the government and its authorities to make sure that each and every hospital of the country dealing with Covid cases gets medicines at the rate determined by the government.

The deficiency of medicines such as Remdesivir, along with failed distribution policy of the government, has led to the situation of illegal marketing and illegal hoarding of the medical equipment, leading to a situation of compromise of the health of Covid patients in India, it added.

Read Also: Kumbh Mela: The eye of the Covid storm?

At least 24 coronavirus patients, who were on life support at Dr Zakir Hussain Hospital in Nashik, died after the leak in a medical oxygen tank. 

The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the State Government to increase the number of daily tests to at least 50,000 per day with the Kumbh Mela 2021 underway.

Hearing a batch of PILs filed against the state and district authorities regarding shortcomings in the Maha Kumbh preparations, a bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Alok Verma after perusing the reports, submitted by the Chief Secretary (Uttarakhand) and a counsel for the petitioner, observed, “There is absence of sanitization dispensers, manual dispensers, inadequate number of changing rooms and washrooms, lack of drinking water facilities, lack of testing kiosks for carrying out Covid-19 tests, lack of CCTV cameras, and at many places the roads, leading to the Ghats, have yet to be constructed completely.”

The bench clarified those who had taken their first dose of the vaccination and are certified to be Covid-19 negative shall be permitted to enter the Kumbh Mela area. The bench also directed the state government to encourage those coming to Kumbh Mela area to take their first or second dose of vaccine at the designated centres throughout the Kumbh Mela area. 

After an inspection of the area, the Chief Secretary informed the court that directions have been issued for completing the works and for rectifying lacunae left by authorities concerned.

The Court exhibited grave concern on the poor conditions of hospitals spread throughout the Kumbh Mela area. It was observed one of the hospitals (S.P.S. Hospital) at Rishikesh does not have the basic equipment such as ultrasound, clean washrooms, proper drinking water and has 4 lifts that don’t function. There is lack of thermal scanning, lack of availability of hand sanitizers. Furthermore, the public has complained that some of the doctors, who are working at the said hospitals, prefer to send patients to their own private clinics. Another Hospital in Haridwar (Doodadhari Hospital) has no ventilators till now. There is no kiosk facility for doctors and nurses. A Sector Hospital facility at Bairagi Camp does not have a power backup system, and Covid-19 testing kiosk.

It was also observed by the court that according to one of the reports there is lack of Jal Police around the Ghats to protect people from the possibility of drowning, or being washed away by the river.

The Mela official informed the court that the budget for the Mela of Rs 803 crore has been almost spent fully in completing works. Of the remaining area, there are only 6 ghats that need repair. He submitted that it would still require 4 days to repair these ghats. He also informed the court that around 101 toilets have been installed in Rishikesh, 112 in Muni-ki-Reti and 96 in Swarg Ashram. He further submitted that 220 doctors are presently available in order to strengthen the medical and health care system. Around 9000 sanitary workers have been employed, 5000 dustbins with twin-bins have been installed, 68 E-Rickshaws and 42 Tippers have been engaged.

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After hearing the submissions, the Court voiced its concern on the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, saying, “Organizing Maha Kumbh Mela is a gargantuan logistical problem. Both the Municipal Corporation of Haridwar and other areas, and the Mela Authority have to tackle a huge population ranging from 10 lakh to 50 lakh on the special days…it is imperative that the State Government must work overtime to ensure that Covid-19 does not start spreading its wings from Haridwar and Rishikesh.”

With the Central government and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan squarely blaming Maharashtra for the sudden spike in Covid-19 second wave infections, four Gujarat cities, including Ahmedabad, are going to see restrictions at night due to increasing infections.
The cities of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot, will be under night curfew from 10 PM to 6 AM from March 17 to March 31.

Reports said during the night curfew, people will be allowed to commute for buying groceries, health emergencies and daily essential services.

Reports said all the restaurants, malls, cinema halls will stay shut between 10 PM to 6 AM till further orders. Pharmacies, milk kiosks, hospitals and other essential services will continue operations.

On Monday, Gujarat witnessed 890 new cases of Covid-19 with one death in Surat. According to the Health Ministry, Gujarat has currently 4,717 active cases with 56 patients on ventilators.

Surat is the worst hit followed by Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot. Gujarat reported 890 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday.

The Gujarat Cricket Association on Monday said the remaining three T20I cricket matches between India and England will be held without an audience in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium.

To curb the sudden spike in Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, the government on March 16 has limited the gathering in wedding halls to 50 people. While the Uddhav Thackeray government has banned public gatherings at clubs, rallies, religious congregations, it has also limited the number of people at funerals at 20.

Union health minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Monday said India is witnessing a sudden surge in the cases of the Covid-19 because people are not following norms properly. Vardhan said social distancing and other guidelines are the only solution to curb the infection in the country even after vaccination.

India is the third worst-hit country by the pandemic after the United States and Brazil. According to the Union Health Ministry, India has witnessed 26,291 new Covid cases on Monday, which are the highest single-day spike in the last 85 days.

The Delhi High Court Chief Justice and other Judges on Saturday issued an advisory to Delhi District Courts that courts should not insist on the presence of parties unless unavoidable and use video conferencing to optimum use for recording evidence and for undertrial prisoners from jail. The advisory has been put out in view of growing coronavirus cases once again.

The advisory issued by the Delhi High Court Registrar General Manoj Jain asked all District & Sessions Judges, Principal Judges, Family Courts to take appropriate measures to regulate entry of litigants and the general public in the Court Complex to avoid crowding. The advisory said non-touch thermal scanners may be procured to use at existing check points.

Among other points, the advisory said till the present situation persists, no adverse/default orders be passed in matters where parties are found to be absent.

It be ensured by all the District & Sessions Judges that sanitizers are available in their respective districts, for visitors as well as staff, particularly those manning windows where there is constant public dealing. Housekeeping, agency/staff be asked to ensure highest level of hygiene is maintained in court complex and disinfectants are sprayed regularly, the advisory reads.

The High Court has instructed that the President and General Secretary of the respective District Court Bar Association may issue necessary directions to ensure that there is no crowding in the Court complex including the lawyers’ chambers. Bar would also ensure that interns are not permitted in the Court complex till the present situation persists.

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No functions or election will be held till further orders and the mediation proceedings will be held only if they are of urgent nature, directed by the High Court.

After operating virtually for around an year, the Delhi High Court has ordered that all its benches would resume hearing the matters through physical mode with effect from March 15.

All subordinate courts in Delhi will be operating physically too from March 15.

In its notification signed by the Registrar General, the Delhi HC said, “It has been ordered that all Benches of this Court shall hold physical Courts, on a daily basis, with effect from 15.03.2021 and shall continue to take up the matters as per the existing arrangement of listing.”

The order further stated that all the courts of Joint Registrars (Judicial) shall continue to hold courts as per the existing arrangement up to 12.03.2021 and shall hold regular physical courts, on a daily basis, with effect from 15.03.2021.

However, the court has said that in exceptional matters any of the parties could be allowed to appear virtually. 

“It is expected that the Advocates, litigants and other visitors to this Court strictly adhere to the norms of social distancing and all other Covid-19 protocols, guidelines, directions, etc. issued by the Government of ndia, Government Of NCT of Delhi and this Court from time to time,” the order said.

Last month the High Court had allowed 8 benches to hear matter through a physical mode of hearing on a rotational basis, along with a hybrid mode of hearing where one counsel may appear through physical mode and another may appear through video conferencing.

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The notification has come after several requests from the Bar requesting “normalcy”  in the courts in Delhi as the situation is becoming normal with steady decline in Covid-19 cases.

New Delhi: The Tripura High Court, taking cognisance of news reports in local dailies, has asked the government to provide details on the number of active Covid cases in the state, with a possible district-wise break-up and also the number of fully-equipped Cronavirus treatment centres set up and other details.

Local newspapers have highlighted the shortcomings in the public healthcare system in the state and have highlighted the plight of patients.

The court has asked the government counsel to provide the following information in an affidavit:

“(i) The number of active corona cases in the State, if possible with district wise break-up.

(ii) The number of corona treatment centres with break-up of which among them are fully equipped with necessary infrastructure, medicines and medical and paramedical staff.

(iii) Whether there is any private hospital in the state which has been given permission to admit corona virus patients. If yes, the maximum capacity of such hospital(s) to admit such patients and the treatment charges which these hospitals have been authorized by the Government to collect from the patients.

(iv) Some newspaper articles also report a lack of communication between the patients who are admitted and their family members. The affidavit, therefore, shall provide the details of steps taken by the administration to ensure that the relatives of the patients are updated about the health condition and the treatment being given to the patient as well as to ensure the communication between the patient and his/her relatives.

(v) The affidavit shall also provide the details of the fund allocation at different Government hospitals treating corona patients. The break-up of the funds available for corona treatment and treatment for other ailments if bifurcated shall be provided.

(vi) The affidavit shall also give the details of availability of essential equipment such as oxygen supply devices, PPE Kits for doctors and paramedical staff etc.

(vii) The affidavit shall also contain details of availability of doctors and paramedical staff at each corona treatment centre and the assessed requirement of such medical and paramedical staff as also the basis on which such assessment has been made by the State.

(viii) We are sure the Government would address the concerns of the general public as are projected by the print media and take such measures as are necessary to improve the condition in Government treatment centres.”

The bench of Chief Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice S. Talapatra noted that as per official records available with the court from the government declaration, the number of patients admitted at AGMC and GBP hospital, Agartala was higher than the total number of beds available and just 19 ventilators were available in the entire state all at the same hospitals.

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The High Court is of the view that if a situation is as mentioned in the newspapers, shifting the patients from a remote area for treatment would become a challenge.

The court sought response from the government by September 18, 2020.

-India Legal Bureau