The Supreme Court on Friday said that High Courts across the country dealing with cases related to Covid-19 policy and management should “not pass orders which are impossible to implement”. It also said that High Courts should refrain from dealing with issues that have trans-national and international ramifications.
The apex court stayed an Allahabad High Court order in a suo motu case in which the court said that, within four months, all nursing home beds in Uttar Pradesh must have oxygen facility. The High Court had also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that within a month every UP village had two ambulances with ICU facility.
“High Courts must pass orders that are possible to implement,” a Supreme Court bench of Justices Vineet Saran and BR Gavai said on Friday.
While appreciating the May. On 11 April, there were 34,341 active Covid cases in Delhi, which is 35,683 as on 21 May. On 5 April, the recovery rate was 96.22 percent, which has increased to 95.85 percent on 21 May. 63,190 tests have also been conducted in 24 hours on 21 May.
On the basis of these figures, sources from the Delhi government said that Delhi is moving towards the ‘unlock’ process. The Chief Minister and the Lieutenant Governor will decide together how to initiate the process.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said, “I will talk to LG on Saturday or Sunday. Whatever decision takes place between us on the lockdown, I will put it before you.”
In an exclusive conversation with The Sunday Guardian, the director of Delhi’s largest Covid-19 hospital said that the dwindling cases point towards an improvement in the situation in Delhi. LNJP Medical Director Dr Suresh Kumar said, “The infection rate coming down to 5% is a good sign. We are returning to our old state. It was a while ago that hospitals did not have beds in ICU but now beds in ICU are lying vacant in hospitals. At LNJP Hospital, a lot of ventilators are empty as well. With the anticipation of the third wave, the number of ventilator beds was increased but there is nothing concrete about it.”
The LNJP director also put forth shocking data about the infection among children in the exclusive interview with The Sunday Guardian. Kumar said, “This second wave of corona has also hit children. There was not a single corona-positive child case in a large hospital like LNJP during the first wave but this time 30 children were admitted. Of these 30, 25 children have recovered and gone to their homes and 5 children are still undergoing treatment at LNJP, but the good thing is that their circumstances did not deteriorate.”
efforts of various state High Courts judges in hearing Covid-19 cases, the SC said, “We are of the opinion that High Courts should consider the possibility of directions and the court should avoid passing the orders which are impossible.”
“We have balanced the order. We don’t want to demoralise the High Courts and the state government too,” the top court said.
The SC, however, refused to cancel the High Court’s “Ram Bharose” comment, made on Monday, saying such observations need to be treated as advice.
A two-judge Allahabad High Court bench of Justices Siddharth Varma and Ajit Kumar had earlier this week used the popular Hindi phrase, meaning “at the mercy of God”, to refer to Uttar Pradesh’s medical system, especially in smaller cities and villages.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, told the SC that such observations demoralise health workers and create panic.
“These observations are made in anxiety and concern for general public. UP can treat this as an observation and advice and not direction,” the SC said, adding: “We cannot pass sweeping orders for all high courts as this appeal is against Allahabad HC order.”
The top court was hearing a case involving inhuman conditions at quarantine centres and for providing better treatment to Covid-positive patients across various states, including Uttar Pradesh.