INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
HYDERABAD: Coming down heavily on the state federal government for not taking actions to reduce gathering of people in public places, the
Telangana High Court on Monday asked the federal government to take a contact the matter in 48 hours.If the government does not do so, the
court would be obliged to purchase enforcement of night curfew or weekend lockdown in view of the steep spurt in Covid-19 cases, a
department bench of the court stated
The department bench making up Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B
Vijaysen Reddy, referred to the court's earlier advisories to the federal government, and restated that the number of participants in
marital relationships need to be no more than 50 and at funeral services 20
Tenancy in the cinema halls should be half or one-third, the bench stated, and included that steps must taken to reduce the footfalls in
pubs, shopping centers, celebrations, functions and so on Keeping in view public health and safety, we have been asking the federal
government to issue circulars or GOs
But it appears that the government is reluctant
Clearly, concern must be offered to public health
Do whatever you can in the next two days
If not, this court will take a call, the bench told the federal government
The court stated: We are refraining from directing the federal government to enforce night curfew or weekend lockdown
However, at the very same time, we don't want the situation in Telangana state to be like in numerous states like Delhi, Maharashtra and
etc, where curfews and lockdowns were imposed
If the state government is not going to take a call to reduce steps at public places, then the court will take a call
The bench was dealing with PILs seeking instructions to the federal government for steps to include the spread of Covid-19 and treatment of
infected patients.On April 10, the court had actually particularly directed the federal government to furnish circulars released to impose
the arrangements of the Catastrophe Management Act and Epidemics Act
The federal government just furnished a circular it had issued for imposing a fine versus those who were not wearing masks, and submitted
that all other standard procedure provided by the Centre in November 2020 during Unlock-6 were being followed.Advocate-General BS Prasad
said the government was keeping an eye on the scenario by the minute.Irked by an absence of vital details about the availability of oxygen
beds and ICU beds for Covid patients, in the report sent by the public health department, Chief Justice Hima Kohli had actually asked for
the existence of the health secretary and the director of public health in the court
They appeared in the virtual mode in the post-lunch session
The bench grilled them for not providing the information and information it had actually requested and looked for to understand the minute
details of the actions that were required to consist of the second wave.Reacting to the submissions that the federal government was
following the SOPs issued by the Centre, the court asked whether the situation now was like November last year
When the favorable cases were escalating, does the state not have the power to take appropriate actions, it asked.The court likewise
inspected the website of the health department and the link of the beds status information in each alerted Covid medical facility, to
cross-check the contentions of the officers
The officers stated the government was closely keeping track of the scenario
The court pointed out many defects in the day-to-day media bulletin which showed less cases as compared to the district-level reports
What is the state going to make from the general public of the Telangana state? Sitting ducks!, the court stated
Sorry for being difficult with the federal government, as this is a concern of life and death of the residents
Your tracking is not good enough
The state government perhaps expects of the High Court to do the R&D work for the state
The state has left it to us to look at and arrange the whole information sought for, and we take strong exception to the report submitted by
The report is perfectly quiet on the variety of problems and information looked for by the court, observed Chief Justice Hima Kohli
Vijaysen Reddy asked whether the profits and finances are more vital to the government than public health
Why delay in enforcing restrictions when the cases are mostly increasing? How are the medical facilities requesting positive reports from
the clients who deserve to be in healthcare facilities? Your report only states that 84 percent of the cases are asymptomatic
Then how they are compelled for a favorable report? The court provided the following instructions to the federal government: * Occupancy
rate in cinema halls need to be 50 percent or even 1/3rd of the hall capability relying on the situation * Arranged declaration showing
number of tests performed for the last one week through RT-PCR, RAT etc * Steps be taken to keep track of cases at airports, railway
stations, inter-state bus terminals * A choice on putting a curb on the guests coming from neighbouring states * A decision to be taken by
the government to enforce night curfew or partial lockdown during the weekends in the state and the districts where the cases are more *
Directions to be released to the Kumbh Mela returnees to get themselves tested, quarantined etc.The next status report should be filed
within two days and PILs have been adjourned to April 23
