COVID19: SC Seeks Centre's Response On A PIL Expounding Black Marketing Of Medical Essentials Including Hand Sanitisers & Masks

Advocates appearing for petitioner(s) stated that the free supply of masks and hand sanitisers is extremely essential in this crisis as they fell under the "essential services" category.

A bench comprising Justices LN Rao & Abdul Nazeer directed the Centre to file its reply by Monday, April 6, 2020.

The petition was filed on Tuesday by Justice for Rights Foundation, Satyam Singh Rajput (Advocate and Founder), Advocate Amit Sharma & Prateek Sharma, a law student from Delhi University.

Issuance of appropriate directions in order to ensure fair and equitable distribution of essential medical items, which are available to the public at large was one of the primary prayers of the petitioner.

In this regard the petitioner has also sought formulation of a "Special Task Force" to effectively implement the notification of the Department of Consumer Affairs of March 21, 2020.

The aforesaid Notification by Department of Consumer Affairs, fixed the prices of the mask i.e. 2 ply masks to be priced at Rs.8 and 3 ply masks to price at Rs.10 and that the sanitizer bottle at Rs. 100. However, the petitioner contended that various medical professionals and chemists were found flouting the directions.