Comply with Covid orders or chief secretary will be summoned: HC to Telangana govt
Judiciary

Comply with Covid orders or chief secretary will be summoned: HC to Telangana govt

Telangana HC has said the state is far behind in data collection and sample testing, and fixed 15 July as deadline to comply with its directions.

   

The Andhra Pradesh-Telangana joint high court in Hyderabad | Wikimedia Commons

New Delhi: The Telangana High Court has expressed dissatisfaction at the state government’s failure to implement its orders on curbing the spread of Covid-19, and fixed 15 July as the deadline to comply with the directions.

The court’s order, dated 1 July, also says that the state chief secretary and other senior officials will be summoned for a personal appearance at the next hearing on 20 July if authorities fail to follow its directions.

The warning came from a bench of Chief Justice Sri Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B.V. Reddy. The court noted that it has, for the past two months, repeatedly passed directions “hoping to bring the gravity of the situation to the notice of the state government” but to “no avail”.

The court was hearing a PIL seeking directions to increase daily Covid-19 tests taking place in the state.

Though one of the high court’s directions had included a daily increase in Covid-19 tests, the evidence produced by the state government reflected otherwise, the court remarked.

Compared to other states, Telangana was far behind in data collection and sample testing. The numbers revealed by the state government — about 945 cases testing positive on 30 June — was “just the tip of the iceberg”, the court said.

“Although the government may claim that it is doing all that it can do to contain the spread of Covid-19, the data supplied by the government, and the information available in the media bulletin, and in the press, reveal a disturbing picture,” the court noted, issuing a fresh set of guidelines to be followed.

Apart from the chief secretary, other senior officers of the state — principal secretary of the medical, health and family welfare department, principal secretary of the municipal administration and urban development, and commissioner of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) — will also have to appear before the court if its 1 July order remains unimplemented.

The state has to file an affidavit by 17 July enumerating its compliance.


Also read: How Andhra is firmly testing, treating its way out of Covid crisis, but Telangana struggling


‘Government report vague’

Detailed instructions to curb coronavirus spread were passed by the high court bench on 8 and 18 June.

In its 18 June order, the court had taken stock of government data which, it said, made “apparent that coronavirus had spread its tentacles to 33 districts in the state”. The court had observed that numbers have spiked ever since the state eased restrictions on the lockdown.

Referring to the government’s media bulletins, the court had then also said that at least 900 cases were detected on a daily basis. It later asked the government for a compliance report of its directions, which was filed on 30 June.

But the bench, on 1 July, found that the government’s report was vague since assertions made in it were not supported by “any document”.

On its direction to release critical information regarding Covid-19 in government media bulletins every day, the court noticed that vital details were conspicuously missing from the official releases.

It also noticed that the GHMC had failed to publish ward-wise information and intimate the residents’ associations about dangers posed by the coronavirus.

The bench was left particularly dissatisfied over the government’s decision to scale down the number of tests every day. Expressing surprise, the judges said it was against the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines, which has mandated states to increase the number of tests.

No evidence was also produced by the government to show that it has formulated a containment policy, another of the court’s directions.

The bench was also told that the government has stopped publishing the list of containment clusters, both city and state-wise.


Also read: Used lathis on vehicles to check if they have coronavirus: Police to Telangana HC


‘State duty-bound to protect residents’

The high court also said the state government was duty-bound under the Constitution to protect its residents from a pandemic.

“The said duty emanates from Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution of India, and from duties imposed on the State under Part IV of the Constitution,” it noted.

The court then set out more directions, apart from the ones given on 8 and 18 June, for the state government to follow.

Under the fresh orders, the state has to provide the court with detailed information on the number of tests carried out not only on the symptomatic but also asymptomatic people, and on contacts of primary patients in the last 20 days.

This information shall be published daily, both in the government’s media bulletin and regional newspapers.

In case of any disparity between data collected by the GHMC and medical, health and family welfare department, the court said, material with the latter shall be considered relevant.

The GHMC, it added, shall continue with its “valiant efforts” to control the spread of Covid-19 in areas under it. The state government has been asked to ease out any differences between GHMC and the medical, health and family welfare department.

The government was also directed to furnish findings of a central team that had made a two-day visit to the state on 27 and 28 June.

While noting the discrepancy in data for Suryapet district, the court asked the state government to give details for the number of tests conducted there each day between 22 March and 23 June.


Also read: SC stays Telangana High Court order directing Covid test on dead bodies, calls it ‘premature’