Shimla, Jul 9
The Himachal Pradesh High court would hear the PIL on Covid situation on every Wednesday. The court directed the state to submit report of the respective district level committees monitoring the Covid situation in each district, every week by Tuesday .
Passing this order Wednesday Division bench of acting chief justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua said that these matters shall be taken up at 1400 hrs every Wednesday, to consider the reports of district committee that
would be filed on Tuesday.
The court asked that copy of this order should be furnished forthwith to each one of the Committee
Members as well as learned counsels appearing for the parties.
Court was hearing a Public Interest litigation instituted on courts own motion recently.
Vandana Mishra, Advocate, for the petitioner made the submissions before the court that monitoring committees should be constituted comprising of experts members including the doctors as Supreme court have also passed similar order earlier.
Mishra also insisted to increase the number of Covid tests and she quoted the order of Himachal Pradesh High court and its directions to increase the daily Covid testing with sudden influx of tourists in the state.
Justice Jyostsna Rewal Dua asked the state what steps have been taken against the violation of SOPs and people violating social distancing and not wearing the masks.
Additional Advocate General Ajay Vaidya placed on record the various efforts made by the State in order to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
” We are aware of the work done by the State in this regard and we are also conscious of the fact that much more is required to be done. The issues pertaining to each District, varies with one another.
There could not be a same set of guidelines for the entire State. It is for this purpose we feel that a local Monitoring Committee would be more useful in such circumstances.” said the court about the state’s response.
The court also directed the state to constitute a District Monitoring Committee for each
District. The said Committee shall consist of the Deputy Commissioner of each District, the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority and the President of the Bar Association at the District Headquarter. In case the President is a senior citizen and not willing to participate in the Committee, he may nominate a person on his behalf to do so.
The Deputy Commissioner shall be the Chairperson of the Committee. The meetings shall be held in his office.
The Committee would have function (1) to visit the towns, cities, villages in each one of the Districts in order to ascertain the situation with regard to COVID-19. (2)Whether the assistance from the Government is adequate to meet the challenges thereon and (3)What is required to be done in order to ensure that the spread of COVID-19 is curtailed.
(4) What is required to be done in order to ensure preparedness for the third wave (5) They shall visit the Primary Health Care Centers, the area where the medical facilities are provided and the areas of such like nature; (6) The Committee may seek the assistance of any other persons in the performance of their duties. (7)All the activities
of the Committee shall be in tune with the prevalent SOPs and guidelines regarding COVID-19.
Court also ordered that committee should submit a weekly report to the Registry of this Court on or before the Tuesday of every week by email. Thereafter, Registry shall transmit the same to the respective counsels.
The Bench would interact with the Committee on 14th July, 2021 at 1400 hrs through video
conferencing. The Committee can meet as many times as is required; and the first meeting of the Committee shall be held on 10th July, 2021 at 1700 hrs .