Supreme Court pulls up Delhi Govt for mishandling Covid situation

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 17

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Delhi Government for mishandling of Covid-19 situation in the national capital and harassing doctors by filing cases against them.

“Everything is excellent in Delhi,” a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan sarcastically commented after perusing the Delhi Government’s affidavit.

As Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing the Delhi Government, talked about the steps taken by the NCT Government, the Bench shot back, “Nurses, doctors are fighting Covid-19 and you are busy in filing FIRs against them. If you don’t treat the soldiers well then how will you win the war?”

“You cannot try to suppress numbers…You are sending a wrong signal… You don’t want proof to come out,” it said.

The top court asked the Delhi Government to file a “better affidavit” on the Covid-19 situation in Delhi and posted the matter for further hearing on June 19.

Earlier, Jain told the Bench about the steps taken by the Delhi Government but the Bench was apparently not satisfied. Terming the situation created by Covid-19 pandemic in Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal as “horrendous”, the SC on June 12 issued notices to the Centre and these states asking them to explain the lapses in treating patients and offering a dignified departure to the dead.