One Week Round-Up: Courts on COVID-19

June 22, 2020: Jagannath Rath Yatra allowed with conditions.

A three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde, had allowed intervention applications against its order dated June 18, 2020, injuncting Rath Yatra and related activities in the Lord Jagannath Temple in Odisha on submissions made on the behalf of State of Odisha and Odisha Vikas Parishad that the Rath Yatra integrates over 10 lakh devotees for 10-12 days, every year and in lieu of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, such festivities will lead to a catastrophic situation.

One such application challenging the Court's order dated June 18, 2020, pleaded that the Rath Yatra could be conducted "in a limited way without public attendance" with precautionary arrangements to ensure social distancing, in compliance with the guidelines and directives issued by the Central and State Governments.

The application also mentioned that the Odisha High Court had previously empowered the State Government to decide upon the matter of organizing Rath Yatra on June 23, after taking suitable measures to ensure public health and safety.

Therefore, on June 22, 2020, the Apex Court lifted its earlier stay on Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri, Odisha, directed the Centre and State Government of Odisha to work in consonance with each other without compromising on health and safety of the devotees, and issued the following conditions in this regard:

1. All the entry points into the city, that is, airports, railway stations, bus stands, and others shall be closed during the period of the Rath Yatra Festival.
2. The State Government shall impose a curfew starting at 8 PM on June 22, 2020, in the City of Puri on all the days and during all the time when Rath Yatra chariots are taken in procession throughout which persons shall not be permitted to come out of their houses or their places of residence.
3. Each Rath or Chariot shall be pulled by not more than 500 persons including officials and police personnel, adhering to all social distancing norms. Only those who have been tested and found negative of COVID-19 shall be allowed to participate in pulling the chariot and other rituals associated with Rath Yatra.
4. There shall be an interval of one hour between two chariots.
5. Committee in-charge of Puri Jagannath Temple Administration shall be primarily responsible for conducting the Rath Yatra as per the conditions of the Court and other safety norms issued by the Central Government to ensure public health.
6. The State Government shall allow installation of TV cameras for the festival to be covered through visual media.
7. The Committee in charge shall allow only the minimum number of persons to participate in the rituals with utmost care and caution.
8. The State Government shall maintain a record of participants of the Rath Yatra and related rituals along with their medical conditions after testing.
9. The State Government may take necessary help from the Union Government concerning the compliance of the social distancing norms and the conditions imposed by the Court.

June 22, 2020: Proceedings Against Ganga Ram Hospital in COVID-19 Norms Violation Case, stayed

A FIR was filed by the Government of NCT of Delhi on June 5, 2020, against the medical superintendent of Sri Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi for violating the norms issued for regulating the testing of COVID-19 patients and committing an offence under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. It was alleged that the hospital has not been following the RT-PCR application as prescribed, for testing data.

The hospital moved the Single Bench of the Delhi High Court to seek quashing of the FIR filed by the Delhi Government, on the ground that the FIR was silent on how an offence was constituted under Section 188 of IPC.

Justice C Hari Shankar, with a view that the investigation in the matter deserves to stay, directed the Delhi Police to file its response to the petition filed by the Hospital.

After hearing lengthy arguments, the Court had stayed the investigation and related proceedings arising out of the FIR filed against the hospital on June 22, 2020, and listed the matter for August 11, 2020.

June 19, 2020: Notice issued to the RBI and the Central Government in plea seeking relief to the real estate sector in the current Coronavirus crisis.

A plea was filed in the Supreme Court by Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) submitting that there is no relief granted or policy package formulated for the real estate sector in these times of distress owing to the Coronavirus crisis, despite contributing massively towards India's GDP.

The petition prayed for reliefs like a waiver of interest during the moratorium period and restructuring schemes.

It was also contended in the petition that the real estate sector, in particular, has been discriminated against by the Government by not allowing it to operate during the nationwide lockdown, violating the fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution. The restrictions which can be imposed under Article 19, if not accompanied by effective relaxations will be unreasonable and discriminatory.

In lieu of the same, the Division Bench of the Supreme Court issued a notice on June 19, 2020, to the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Government regarding measures to be taken in order to grant such relief.

June 19, 2020: COVID-19 test for expatriates flying to Kerala from June 25.

A press release by Kerala Government on June 11th, 2020 stated that expatriates who are flying from abroad, especially Middle Eastern countries to Kerala on or after June 25, have to undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing before boarding chartered flights arranged by various organizations and other flights under the Vande Bharat Mission.

If a COVID positive person wishes to travel back to India, the Government of India should consider arranging a special flight for bringing the expatriate home.

This policy of the State Government was aimed at decreasing the chances of infected persons spreading the virus to other passengers on the flight. The Kerala Chief Minister also mentioned that in case, countries lack facilities to test expatriates, the Central Government must make necessary arrangements with the embassies of those countries. It was also promised that steps shall be taken in cooperation with Indian Embassies and airlines to provide COVID-19 kits to test the passengers on arrival.

Regarding this policy decision of the Kerala Government, a writ petition was filed before the Supreme Court which was dismissed on June 19,2020, as the three-judge Bench abstained from intervening with the decision of the State Government to test expatriates for Coronavirus pre-flight to India.

However, the Petitioner was permitted to represent the matter before the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, and before the Government of Kerala, and the authorities were directed to take appropriate action at the earliest.

June 19, 2020: Directions issued regarding testing and treatment pricing, discharge policies and supervision and monitoring of infrastructure facilities in COVID Hospitals.

The three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court while hearing a matter based on the Suo-motu cognizance taken by it concerning the lack of care and concern towards COVID affected persons and directed the Government of NCT of Delhi to furnish a better affidavit to redeem itself on June 17, 2020.

In the subsequent hearing of the matter on June 19, 2020, the Top Court while demanding the Delhi Government to be "more vigilant in knowing about the deficiency and lapses in the functioning of the hospitals", passed an order containing a slew of directions for the Delhi Government and Governments of other States/UTs regarding testing and treatment pricing, discharge policies and supervision and monitoring of infrastructure facilities in Government Hospitals, COVID dedicated hospitals and other hospitals taking care of COVID positive persons.

1. Expert Committees to be constituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Union of India for inspection and issuance of necessary directions to hospitals in the NCT of Delhi.
2. The Expert Committee must ensure weekly visits in each hospital and shall additionally conduct surprise visits to assess the preparedness of the hospitals. Reportsfrom the Expert Committee to be forwarded to the Government of NCT of Delhi and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Union of India.
3. States shall also constitute an expert team of doctors and other experts for inspection, supervision, and guidance of government hospitals and other hospitals dedicated to Covid-19 affected persons. Such teams are empowered to issue directions to hospitals in the State and shall submit a report to the respective State Government in the regard.
4. The Court accredited the measure taken up by LNJP Hospital, Delhi to install CCTV cameras in all wards and hence, directed the Delhi Government to install CCTVs in all hospitals dedicated to COVID-19 affected patients.
5. Chief Secretaries of other states shall also ensure the installation of CCTV cameras in hospitals wards for transparency and help of the hospital management to immediately find out the requirement of patients in the wards.
6. The Expert team or any other authority as per directions of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare shall be provided with the CCTV footage for scrutiny and issuanceof necessary directions.
7. All hospitals shall permit one willing attendant of the patient in the hospital premise, who can be restricted to an area allocated by the hospital.
8. All hospitals shall create a helpdesk, physically and telephonically accessible to the public to enquire about the well-being of patients admitted in the respective hospitals.
9. With regard to prescribing reasonable rates of various COVID related facilities and tests, the Union may issue appropriate guidelines to all the States/Union Territories, which need to be uniformly followed across the country, along with some state-specific regulations.
10. Overriding a circular issued by the Government of Maharashtra against the supply of test reports to patients directly, the Top Court directed that all States and all concerned authorities shall provide a copy of the report of the patient to him or his relatives directly and the hospital.
11. The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India may formulate directions to all States/Union Territories to uniformly follow the discharge policy revised on 08.05.2020 with regard to the discharge of different categories of patients.

June 17, 2020: Notice issued in a plea seeking availability and improvement of ambulance and ambulance services.

An NGO called "EARTH" moved the Apex Court urging it to direct the Central Government and Governments of States owning the maximum number of coronavirus cases, that is, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, to exercise their powers under Section 63 and 65 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and make available ambulance and ambulance services for COVID and Non- COVID patients and improve the efficiency of prevailing ambulance services.

This PIL was filed in lieu of the surge in the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the country leading to the shortage and mismanagement of ambulance services to cater to the needs of the common man during the prevalent lockdown.

It was prayed that a 'centralized mechanism' be set up to improve the efficiency and availability of ambulances. While substantiating the contentions with various instances of persons being deprived of ambulance services, the Petitioner proposed the model adopted by the Haryana Government of collaborating with OLA, to provide safe and reliable trips to hospitals for NON-COVID patients who can do with BLS (without ventilator) ambulances.

Other measures such as registration of private ambulances under the Road Transport Office, conversion of public transport vehicles into ambulances, development of mobile application enabling patients to avail ambulance services at reasonable and uniform rates, among others, were recommended in the petition to boost the efficacy of ambulance services.

On June 17, 2020, a Bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul, and MR Shah observed the extortionate rates ranging from Rs. 15,000-25,000, charged by ambulance service providers amid the Coronavirus pandemic, in the PIL filed by NGO Earth.

The Top Court issued a notice in the matter and emphasized on the need to cap rates charged by the ambulance services on the pretext of "covering the cost of PPE's which are highly essential to be worn by every health care worker, drivers and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to protect themselves from the virus".

June 17, 2020: Delhi govt to file a fresh affidavit in matter relating to lack of care and concern towards COVID affected dead bodies in the Capital.

On June 17, 2020, the three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court while hearing a matter based on the Suo motu cognizance taken by it, concerning the lack of care and concern towards COVID affected dead bodies by State Governments, found the response filed by the Government of NCT of Delhi concerning the deplorable state of hospitals, to be inadequate and unsatisfactory.

Furthermore, the Apex Court condemned the action of the State Government of "shooting messengers, threatening doctors and paramedics" while referring to the suspension of an LNJP Hospital employee responsible for video graphing the plight of COVID affected dead bodies in the said hospital of the Capital.

While remarking that the "healthcare workers are corona warriors and they need to be protected", the Bench directed the State Government to file a fresh affidavit listing down the remedial steps and action plan to manage the Coronavirus crisis and withdraw all unfortunate steps taken by it against healthcare workers and other whistle-blowers.

June 17, 2020: Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to direct States and UTs to pay full salaries to doctors and healthcare workers who are involved in treating COVID-19 patients.

A plea was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for frontline Covid-19 healthcare workers which terminated the provision for the mandatory 14-day quarantine for doctors.

A Bench, led by Justice Ashok Bhushan passed an order on June 17, 2020, demanding the Central Government to ensure that the Chief Secretaries of States make provisions for payment of salaries, appropriate accommodation, and uniform implementation of quarantine guidelines for their doctors and healthcare workers.

Additionally, it was ordered that provisions for quarantine shall not be based on risk or exposure to COVID infected persons. Violation of the directions passed by the Central Government in this regard shall be treated as an offence punishable under the Disaster Management Act read with the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

The State Government, the Central Government, and all other concerned authorities shall safeguard that remuneration of doctors and healthcare workers are timely paid and they are provided with proper accommodations for quarantine, even when they are not covered under the 'high-risk exposure' category.

June 17, 2020: Stay on the order of Telangana High Court directing State Government to carry out mandatory testing on dead bodies.

An order passed by the Telangana High Court on May 26, 2020, dictating the Telangana Government to hold mandatory COVID-19 testing on dead bodies before releasing them from hospitals, was stayed by the Apex Court on June 17, 2020, holding it to be "premature".

The High Court in its order dated June 8, 2020, also stated that non-compliance of May 26 order will lead to the issuance of a contempt notice for intentional and wilful disobedience by the Telangana Government.

In this regard, the State Government had issued a press release on June 9, 2020, noting that it is impossible to conduct tests on 900-1000 persons that die in the state every day, due to various reasons, even after 'indulging itself' completely to battle the pandemic.

Additionally, it was stated that if the medical staff is employed for testing the deceased, it shall impact the treatment of ailing patients.

June 17, 2020: Notice issued to the Ministry of Home Affairs on a plea seeking transfer of all contributions made till date to the PM Cares Fund to the National Disaster Response Fund

A petition alleging illegality of Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM Cares Fund) formulated to support the population affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the consequent lockdown was filed in the Apex Court. It stated that the Fund is not within the scope of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 as the Act provides that 'any grant made by any person or institution for the purpose of disaster management should be compulsorily credited to National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF)'. 

Also, the PM Cares Fund is neither subjected to the RTI Act, 2005 nor to the audit of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, raising questions on its authenticity and transparency.

The petition, therefore, urges the transfer of contributions made to the PM Cares Fund to the NDRF, created under Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 by the Central government to deal with disasters.

On June 17, 2020, the Top Court issued a notice in the matter to seek Central Government's response and combined the present case with the matter where the Bench had taken Suo motu cognizance on the plight of migrant workers.

June 17, 2020: Plea to direct union Government to move the International Court of Justice against the People's Republic of China, dismissed

A Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), to instruct the Central Government to move the International Court of Justice against the People's Republic of China, asking for disclosure of facts relating to Coronavirus and demanding 600 billion US dollars as compensation for igniting the spread of the disease in India.

The petition contained that the People's Republic of China made deliberate efforts to demolish the Indian economy and livelihood of its people, by creating a biological weapon in form of a fatal disease, Coronavirus, which is highly communicable and puts at stake the right to life, guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

The plea while accounting for the struggles and impediments faced by Indian citizens during this Coronavirus crisis, urged the Court to direct the Central Government to make a representation to the People's Republic of China and WHO, asking for information relating to the "origin of the Coronavirus at Ground Zero, various matrixes of reproduction rate of the virus and its various mutations", pertinent to help the Indian scientists and doctors to research and develop an antidote to fight the deadly virus.

On June 17, 2020, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court while dismissing the petition, remarked it to be vague.