Supreme Court Hearing On Suo Motu COVID Case: LIVE UPDATES

Justice Chandrachud: Private hospitals are not servicing rural areas. The allocation is predominantly for urban area and it’s entirely exclusive of rural areas.

SG: On a daily basis, meetings are held and decisions are taken. We are not oblivious to the ground realities.

Justice Bhat: Has any study being out by any government for the rural areas ? We have been told that children will be exposed in the third wave and that rural areas will be affected. We want to know the vaccination policy for that too.

Arora: Why can’t the govt provide some semblance of ritual, which is also for health purposes ?

Bench: We saw a picture of a body being thrown in river.

Justice Chandrachud: I don’t know if a sedition case has been filed against the news channel for showing that.

SG: There is already a suo moto matter regarding the dignified handling of dead bodies.

Arora: I am talking about COVID related deaths. Then on the next limb of the same thing, the poor are unable to dispose of their dead. They find the rituals are expensive.

Arora: While crematoriums and burials are state subjects, we have seen that there is no dignity in death. It is unfortunate that we have large number of crematoriums which are not functioning. Across the country, we have not set many up.

Arora submits that there is a need to identify distribution of free masks in the interregnum; quality masks to meet with the current situation. She states that many are resorting to cloth pieces which are reused constantly. The government must take the obligation to provide this.

Justice Chandrachud: No policy is set in stone. The policy must be seen at the touchstone of the Constitution. You can say that it affects right to life, that is by affecting right to health.

Arora: Situation during a pandemic becomes worse. When it’s a policy which has been adopted and has worked, and has also been adopted across the world, why should we put the citizens in a problem ?

Justice Rao: You can say that the new policy is not affective.

Arora: Centre must respond to this that why should it change a long standing policy which we have had since Independence, whether it was cholera, small pox etc.

Justice Rao: How can we outright say that they must be pinned down to the old policy ?

Arora: Under the Concurrent list, it’s the duty of the Centre. I’m only putting this because this will be in the central domain. Entry 81 in list 1 for inter state migration and quarantine.

Justice Bhat: Essential drugs will fall in Central list.