On Sunday the Gujarat High Court initiated a suo motu PIL over the rising coronavirus cases in the state, as the media reports indicate that the state was heading towards a “health emergency of sorts”.
Chief Justice Vikram Nath through an oral order, directed the high court registry to register a fresh suo motu PIL titled “In Re: Uncontrolled upsurge and serious management issues in COVID control”.
The first PIL was registered last year and it is still being heard at regular intervals and this is the second such PIL registered by the state high court on coronavirus situation.
The chief justice informed the registry to make the Gujarat government, its health department as well as the central government parties in the fresh Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
In view of the current Corona situation, Gujarat Govt announces the closure of direct educational activities (offline) in all Govt and private colleges in the state till April 30. For each semester, colleges will be allowed to continue online education as per their requirement.
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) April 11, 2021
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Bhargav D Karia at Nath’s official residence will hear the PIL on Monday through online mode.
The chief justice said that “news channels are flooded with the harrowing tales, unfortunate and unimaginable difficulties and unmanageable conditions of the infrastructure”.
According to these media reports, he noted that there exists a “shortfall or deficit of not only testing, beds, and ICU, but also the supply of oxygen and basic medicines like Ramdesivir, etc”.
The chief justice further noted that these reports indicate that the state is heading towards a health emergency of sorts”.
