‘Act of bureaucrat puts whole admn to grave risk’
*It seems SOP meant only for common masses: PIL
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 5: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the High Court seeking directions for initiation of enquiry into the violation of COVID-19 guidelines/protocol by a senior IAS officer, which has put the entire top brass of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the grave risk besides sending a message that Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is only meant for the common masses.
In the PIL, it has been mentioned that in view of the situation emerging due to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir from time to time issued numerous instructions/guidelines for strict compliance by every citizen.
In the guidelines, it has specifically been mentioned that all the passengers or returnees whether by road, rail or air will have to compulsorily undergo a COVID-19 test following which they will be put under administrative quarantine till the receipt of the test report.
In case test turns negative the persons are required to be released for home quarantine and in case of positive they are to be sent to a COVID-19 dedicated hospital for treatment. Moreover, the Government of J&K UT has classified the districts as Red, Orange and Green for the purpose of implementing the lockdown. As per the classification, all the districts of Kashmir province except Ganderbal and Bandipora have been categorized as Red.
The petitioner said, “a senior IAS officer Dheeraj Gupta, who was appointed as Nodal Officer at Srinagar Airport, returned to Jammu from Srinagar by air on May 29, 2020 and accordingly he had been sampled for COVID-19. Following this, he was supposed to undergo administrative quarantine or to isolate himself. However, he blatantly violated the guidelines/instructions”.
“The senior IAS officer attended two meetings along with other officials on the same day at Jammu thereby exposed himself along with others to the deadly COVID-19. Moreover, he didn’t stop but kept on meeting with other officials and people till the disclosure of the result on the evening of May 30”, the PIL said, adding “following his result turning positive the administration had to identify 45 contacts of senior IAS officer in Jammu and 41 in Kashmir with the direction to quarantine themselves at their respective place of residence”.
“If an Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor can opt for mandatory period of quarantine after his wife and son detected COVID-19 positive what was the problem for the senior IAS officer to strictly follow the protocol”, the petitioner said, adding “even other officers who were supposed to ensure strict compliance to the guidelines/SOP by this particular senior IAS officer cannot absolve themselves as they allowed him to attend the meetings despite being aware of the fact that he came from the Red Zone”.
The PIL further said, “the act of the senior IAS officer is of criminal negligence as the same has thrown the whole administration into risk and caused total chaos and anarchy in the UT”, adding “the act of respondents is unbecoming of responsible and sensible public servants as such they endangered the lives of the public as well as officials”.
With these submissions, the petitioner has prayed to the High Court for issuance of directions to the Union Home Secretary to initiate and hold an enquiry into the violation of guidelines and for initiating proceedings against the erring officials as per Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Section 188 of IPC. Otherwise people will gather an impression that guidelines are only meant for them and not for the bureaucrats.
In the PIL filed by Raj Kumar, a resident of Bantalab Gurha Keran through Advocate Asheesh Singh Kotwal, Union Home Secretary, Chief Secretary J&K, Divisional Commissioner Jammu and Deputy Commissioner Jammu have also been made respondents.
Prayer has also been made for issuance of directions to all the respondents for strictly following the guidelines/instructions so that COVID-19 situation is tackled effectively.
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