Plea For Providing Proper PPE Kit To Covid Warriors- Petitioner Offers Payment Of 10 Kits- Gauhati HC Dismisses PIL With 50K Cost

A practicing lawyer appearing party in-person informed the Court that the frontline workers, particularly the doctors and the paramedics, are not provided with proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits.

"The PPE Kit which is presently being provided to doctors and paramedics are non-porous, and it does not allow air to pass in and out, and it causes much discomfort to the doctors while examining the patients," the petitioner adds.

The petitioner submitted before a bench of Chief Justice Mr. Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak that another PPE Kit is available in the market with "Air Purifying Respiratory Devices." The petitioner also presented a price comparison among five companies manufacturing or dealing with such equipment. It states that the PPE kits' prices range from Rs.10,800/- to Rs.1,19,400/- per piece.

While dismissing the plea, the Court stated that the petitioner has made a very strange request offering a cheque of Rs.1,18,000/- to the Government to purchase at least ten such PPE kits on an experimental basis.

"A genuine and bonafide PIL must be encouraged by all Courts, but at the same time, a frivolous PIL which is being filed for extraneous reasons must be discouraged as laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in its seminal judgment, i.e., the State of Uttaranchal vs. Balwant Singh Chaufal & Ors (2010) 3 SCC 40."

The Court held that the petitioner, who is neither a doctor nor a paramedic, has a grievance that the present PPE kits need to be changed. It also observes that the petitioner is not a doctor or paramedic, and her claim does not rest on any verifiable data.

"The prayer for a direction from this Court for purchase of a particular kind of PPE kit is a matter which cannot be considered by a Court in a PIL. As if this was not enough, the petitioner has also offered a cheque of Rs.1,18,000/- to the Government through this Court to purchase these "special" PPE kits."

The Court held that the petitioner is indirectly asks the Court to order the State for purchasing PPE kits of a particular company, i.e., BHT Technologies LLP.

The Court has directed that the cost which shall be deposited in the Registry within a period of one week, and be then transferred to the account of Advocate/Lawyers Fund.

TITLE- BABITA SHARMA GOYAL VS THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 4 ORS.