Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 23: The J&K Government has informed the High Court that all the directions of Central Government on COVID-19 issues are being complied with as per the guidelines and it has closed down the PIL on the spread and prevention of the pandemic.
Hearing the Public Interest Litigation on the spread and prevention of the pandemic, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Rajnesh Oswal has been informed by Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education Department that the instructions relating to the COVID-19 are issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India which have been and are being complied with by the Government of J&K.
Court after this information said the Government of J&K is aware of importance of the issue on one hand and the guidelines of MHA be given wide publicity. “Government of J&K has assured this court in the report filed that all necessary steps as are required, would be taken and guidelines which would be formulated as directed by MHA would be given full publicity”. With these observations court said there is no further intervention required by the court in the matter and, as such, closed this issue.
On the issue of need of framing legislation for addressing issues of safety, care, health and violence against healthcare professionals and clinical establishments, Court has been informed that the MHA did not support the bill on the issue drafted by the MoHFW.
MHA objects to enact a separate legislation for prohibiting violence against doctors and other health care professionals with the reason that the same would give rise to similar demands from other categories of professionals like media persons, advocates, bankers and others.
It is said in the MHA letter in which separate legislation was objected that State is duty bound to protect life and property of all its citizens including professionals like media, doctors, engineers, bankers etc.
Court directed the Government of India to report the court by next date regarding receipt of complaints from any category of such professionals mentioned in the letter of MHA which include media persons, bankers, chartered accountants etc making a grievance that they were suffering violence and seeking enactment of legislation on the same.
On the issue of impact of pollen from poplar trees, Court has been informed that GAD has taken a view on the report submitted by the Expert Committee and the same has been forwarded to Law Department and the Forest Department for compliance but neither the report of Expert Committee nor the decision taken thereon has been submitted before the court.
With regard to dealing with diseases like Malaria, Dengue or Chikungunya, two reports have been submitted one each from Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC). SMC in its report informed the court that the matter was referred to Health Officer of SMC who explained that these kind of diseases are not reported in Kashmir Division on account of altitude and continental temperature. “In view thereof, nothing is required to be done in Srinagar so far as these diseases are concerned”, court said.
However, JMC states that all preventive measures are being taken to combat these diseases within its jurisdiction and has come up with an action plan for controlling such diseases which have been summarized in the report of JMC. “JMC shall ensure that all steps as placed in the report are seriously taken”, court directed.
Court has also directed for enquiry on the grievance of dearth of food to the public in Doda district as reported in ‘Daily Excelsior’ and wasting the food grains by FCS&CA. However, the department submitted before the court that certain Atta had been permitted to rot in the Food Store, Doda and action has been taken by the authorities and Assistant Director Doda is directed to furnish action taken report and to recover the losses from the erring officials. “The enquiry as ordered shall be completed within two weeks and action taken report be filed before us before next date of hearing”, DB directed.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
