The Supreme Court will today continue hearing in the matter related to the children, who either lost one or both parents, or those abandoned due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The vacation bench of Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Aniruddha Bose had, on May 28, 2021, directed all the district authorities to upload the information of children, who have become orphans after March, 2020, on the portal of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights ’Bal Swaraj’ before the evening of May 29.

The district authorities were directed to take immediate steps to attend to the basic needs of the children who have become orphans after April 1, 2020.

The NCPCR, a statutory body constituted under Section 3 of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, had filed an affidavit, providing data of children, who have lost either one or both the parents due to COVID-19 and also those children, who have been abandoned.

As per the data submitted with the affidavit, there are 9346 such children, who have either been abandoned, or lost one or both parents to COVID-19.

Swarupama Chaturvedi, Counsel appearing for the NCPCR, submitted that the District authorities have not been able to provide the complete information relating to the children who have been affected by the loss of either of the parents or both, during the pandemic. The time given to the District authorities to upload the information before May 29, was extended till June 5.

The NCPCR was directed to collate the information and file an affidavit by June 6.

Sachin Patil, Counsel appearing for Maharashtra and Rajasthan, submitted that the District authorities were finding it difficult to comply with the requirement of providing information for the six stages. Ms Chaturvedivsubmitted that the basic information required according to stage I and II was sufficient. The other information required was not necessary to be provided at this stage. The Amicus, in his note, referred to a scheme ‘PM Cares for Children,” which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 29, 2021.

According to the available information pertaining to the scheme, children who have lost both the parents or surviving parent or legal guardian/ adopted parents during COVID-19, shall be the beneficiaries of aid from the Central Government. As the particulars of the scheme were not available, the Amicus Curiae submitted that the Union of India be directed to furnish the necessary details about the same. Aishwarya Bhati, Additional Solicitor General, undertook to provide the details of the scheme, including the identification of the beneficiaries of the said scheme. The Union of India shall also furnish information relating to the mechanism that would be adopted for distribution of the benefits, he said. The Amicus submitted that a large number of States/Union Territories have filed their notes and reports in response to the notice issued on May 28, 2021.

The Amicus Curiae requested the Court to direct the State governments/ Union Territories to appoint a Nodal Officer at the level of Secretaries, Joint Secretaries of the concerned District, who would interact with him and provide all necessary information relating to identification of orphans/Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP), the steps taken for alleviating the pain and sufferings of the children.

The Amicus Curiae identified 10 states, including Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand, for the exercise, to be completed before June 7, 2021.

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The above State Governments were directed to nominate a Nodal Officer at the level of Secretary/Joint Secretary of the concerned department to interact with the Amicus Curiae. They were directed to provide all necessary information relating to the identification of the orphans/CNCP’S and the action taken by the District authorities for the welfare of such children.

The Amicus Curiae shall submit a detailed report thereafter to this Court along with his suggestions about the measures to be adopted further in the interest of orphans/CNCP’s. 

Source: ILNS

Amid the novel coronavirus epidemic crisis, the Delhi High Court on Monday expressed deep displeasure during the hearing of the drug hoarding case by leaders of various political parties.

The bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh said that leaders of political parties have no authority to hoard drugs.

The Court asked, “How did BJP leader Gautam Gambhir get such a large stock of medicine from the chemist? If Gautam’s intention is of public interest, then he should give it to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHC), which will distribute it to the needy.”

The HC further said that Delhi Police is expected to conduct a proper investigation into the hoarding of drugs. The Court also issued notice to the Drugs Controller of India to file a reply on the same.

The petition, filed by Dr Deepak Singh, alleged that when the COVID-19 infection was at its peak, many leaders distributed medicines. When people were not getting these medicines from the market at a very difficult time, from where did the leaders procure them?

The High Court then asked the police to interrogate the issue, to which the crime branch recorded the statement of AAP MLA from Timarpur, Dilip Pandey; former Congress MLA Mukesh Sharma and BJP leader Harish Khurana.

The Crime Branch will soon interrogate BJP MP Gautam Gambhir as well. After taking the statements of all these people, the Crime Branch will prepare a report, which will be submitted to the High Court.

In the interim report filed before the Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli, the police had said that investigation has so far revealed that the leaders of various political parties were helping people without any discrimination in the epidemic. However, it further said that the investigation is still going on and asked the court to give six weeks time to complete it.

Advocate Sanjay Law has filed this report on behalf of Crime Branch of Delhi Police. According to the status report, police have so far interrogated BJP MP and former cricketer from East Delhi Gautam Gambhir, AAP MLA Dilip Pandey, State Congress President and former MLA Anil Chaudhary, Youth Congress President Srinivas BV. This report has been presented on the basis of interrogation and statements made by nine leaders.

In this, the police has said that according to the facts revealed by the investigation so far, the leaders of various political parties help the needy people through oxygen, medicine, medical equipment, hospitalization of patients / getting beds etc. Were living. It is also clear from the investigation that for this, no leader took money from the people and voluntarily helped the people in the Mahatrasadi without any discrimination.

In this report filed through advocate Sanjay Law, the police has said that the investigation is still going on and asked for six weeks to complete it. In a statement to the police, all the leaders said that they were voluntarily helping the people in this epidemic as a public representative.

The High Court, considering a PIL, had on May 4 asked the Delhi Police to investigate the allegations of hoarding on the leaders and submit a report. The chairman of the NGO Hrudayya Foundation and the national level shooter Deepak Singh have filed a petition in the High Court.

The petition, filed through Adhikar Virag Gupta, has sought a case by the leaders to register a case in connection with the purchase and distribution of the drug used in the treatment of corona infection and a CBI inquiry.

Gupta has stated in the petition how leaders of different political parties are able to buy large quantities of medicines without the necessary permission under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, while the general public is not getting this medicine.

They have also said that they are distributing medicines for their political gains, while some people are not getting medicines, in such a situation it is a crime of a serious nature and due to this the patients of Corona across the country are not getting medicines in time Trouble, even life is going on.

On May 4, the High Court ordered the investigation of the case by the leaders of buying and distributing the drug Remedisvir and other medicines widely used in the treatment of corona infection. However, the court at present refused to order the CBI to investigate the matter. The court has ordered the Delhi Police to investigate the matter.

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The bench said that in view of the incidents coming under the jurisdiction of this court, we direct the petitioner to present his grievances before the Delhi Police Commissioner. At the same time, the Commissioner of Police, after conducting its investigation, will respond to the complainant. The bench has made it clear in its order that if any offense is detected during the investigation, then Delhi Police should take appropriate action by filing a case.

Source: ILNS

The Delhi High Court on Monday came down heavily on politicians distributing medicines and other equipment to people during the Covid-19 pandemic, telling them to surrender the same to the Director General of Health Services (DGHS).

The Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh today said, “If the politicians have intentions of doing some public good, then they should be given the medicines to hospitals. This is not the right way.”

The Court was hearing the issue of political leaders providing medicines, oxygen and other equipment during the Novel Coronavirus pandemic.

Taking exception to BJP East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, who organised a camp and distributed Fabiflu medicines in the capital, the Court said, “This is not the right way. They should hand over the medicines to the Director General of Health Services (DGHS).”

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Advocate Sanjay Lao represented petitioner Dr Deepak Singh, while Advocate Virag Gupta represented the Delhi Police.

Source: LNS