Allahabad HC Defers Hearing Of Contempt Plea Against Failure Of State Authorities To Implement Social Distancing Norms [Read Order]

The Division Bench comprising Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar expressed hope that the Police and the District Administration all over the State would leave no stone unturned to see that the Government guidelines /directives are complied with in letter and spirit.

The Court was hearing the suo moto case dealing with the conditions of Quarantine centers in the state, and other Covid related issues.

The above remarks were made in the backdrop of the reply filed by District Magistrate and S.S.P., Prayagraj, pursuant to an explanation sought by the High Court on the contempt applications filed by Advocates Ram Kaushik and Priyanka Midda, on Monday.

The Court has decided to keep the contempt applications pending, in case the assurances given by the authorities do not fructify.

Removal of unauthorized shops/ encroachments where people often gather

During the course of hearing on August 5, the High Court had pulled up the Nagar Nigam Administration in Prayagraj for being a "passive spectator" of the encroachment activities, where people often gathered in complete disregard of social distancing norms, leading to risk of spread of infection.

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On a perusal of all the records and materials on Tuesday, the bench reiterated its dissatisfaction at the "half hearted" steps taken by the Nagar Nigam for removal of encroachments.

Accordingly, it has appointed two Advocate Commissioners who would inspect such places which the Nagar Nigam has submitted to have been made encroachment free. They have been asked to submit a joint report on the following points:

• Whether the Nagar Nigam had actually carried out its extensive exercise of freeing public land from encroachments as per their claims;
• Whether these places remained vacant after the encroachment was removed and no further encroachment took place;
• Proper sanitization and sprinkling of DDT powder, fogging etc. was regularly being done in every nook and corner of the city on a regular basis, routinely;
• Whether the Nagar Nigam has made arrangements of creating sufficient vending zones to ensure that unauthorized people whose shops are removed do get a place for continuing their business in the regular vending zones;
• Whether the Nagar Nigam has placed sufficient dustbins for the disposal of used gloves and masks by the residents of the city.

Deployment of adequate Medical Staff at Hospitals, Nagar Nigam

Inter alia, the Court was informed regarding the inadequate number of Doctors/ Nurses deployed at Hospitals, especially in ICU Wards. The Court was also apprised of an incident where a patient died on her way to the toilet and even after she fell down, there was no Nurse or Doctor available to attend her.

In this backdrop the Court has ordered,

• There should be not less than 3 Nurses and a Doctor on every 15 patients in isolation wards, at level-3 hospitals.
• The Doctor patient ratio for the ICU wards should be even better.
• Complete information be provided as to when Doctors were being called and also as to whether they actually reported for duty. Details with regard to Doctors with specializations who came when they were called be also provided.
• Inform us about the inflow of funds to the level-3 hospital dealing with the Covid-19 patients.
• Inform us as to in what manner Doctors and Nurses attend to patients when there is an emergency at night.
• Incident of the patient who died on her way to toilet be investigated at the highest level and a report be submitted.

"We expect that the Hospital Administration and the Government will ensure that more medical force is deployed to meet the requirement," the Court said.

The Court has also asked the State Government to submit a report as to why no Health Department is functioning in the Nagar Nigam.

"Doctors in the Health Department are very essential because, whenever there is a pandemic of the kind we are having, the Doctor in the Nagar Nigam alone can assess the magnitude of the problem. The Doctor of the Nagar Nigam also sees to the standard of cleanliness of the city," the Court said while posting the matter for hearing on August 25, 2020.

Case Details:

Case Title: In-Re Inhuman Condition At Quarantine Centres And For Providing Better Treatment To Corona Positive Respondent

Case No.: PIL No. 574/2020

Quorum: Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Ajit Kumar

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