oppn parties The Covid-19 Situation - Supreme Court Intervenes

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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The Covid-19 Situation - Supreme Court Intervenes

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-04-23 03:31:10

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Although it should have done it much earlier, it is good that the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of what it called "national health emergency situation" due to the surging Covid cases in the second wave and the problems being face by the people in getting treated and vaccinated all over the country. The court issued notices to the Centre and the states and UTs to know what measures were being taken to control and improve the situation and how resources were being allocated and distributed in an equitable manner so as not to cause undue sufferings in any region of the country. The court was concerned that too many HCs had issued orders that could be conflicting and said that it would issue uniform orders for the whole country if it though fit.

There is no doubt that the second wave of coronavirus has been ineptly handled - both by the Centre and the states. Ever since it became known (from the first week of March) that cases were rising, first alarmingly and then exponentially, the response was extremely slow and often knee-jerk. Super spreader events like the Maha Kumbh and rallies in state elections were allowed ignoring all health advisories. It also showed that the economically-debilitating, two-month long lockdown in the country, from end-March to May, 2020, ostensibly to break the chain but more importantly to ramp up infrastructure, had taught no lessons to the administration. India was not ready for the second wave and the familiar situation of shortages - of vaccines, hospital beds, safe houses for isolation, oxygen, medicines, et al - proved that the lockdown had served no actual purpose as far as ramping up health infrastructure was concerned.

Courts all over the country took notice of the situation, either suo motu or when petitions were filed. They started issuing orders ranging from ordering a lockdown (as in UP, which order was rightly stayed by the SC) to directing the state to ramp up health infrastructure or provide resources. But if the order of one HC goes against the order of another HC, states would land in trouble by following one or ignoring the other. Hence it would be better if the Supreme Court issues uniform orders for the entire nation after studying the matter in detail. 

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