‘Directed states to ensure strict compliance with Covid-19 directives’: Centre responds to Delhi high court notice

On June 18, a vacation bench of the Delhi high court had directed the Centre and Delhi government to file a status report over violation of Covid-19 norms in markets across the national capital.

The central government on Saturday filed a status report in the Delhi high court, informing the court that it has directed all state and Union territory governments to ensure strict compliance with the national directives for management of the coronavirus pandemic, adding that states and UTs can take necessary actions under the Disaster Management Act (DMA).

Heavy crowd at Gaffar Market, in New Delhi, India, on Friday, July 9, 2021. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times)

“MHA issued order dated 29.06.2021 directing state/UT governments and state/UT authorities to consider the implementation of targeted and prompt actions for Covid-19 management till 31.07.2021 as conveyed through MoHFW advisory dated 28.06.2021, and also take necessary measures under DMA, 2005,” the Centre said in response to the high court’s notice.

In its response, the Centre also defended the opening up of activities following a decline in daily Covid-19 cases, calling it an “essential” process; however, it further said that the states and UTs should ensure that the “whole process is fully calibrated.” The national directives for Covid-19 management, it stated, include face covering, social distancing, not spitting in public faces, work from home, staggering of business/work hours, screening and hygiene, and frequent sanitisation.

The report further clarified that the decision to impose or ease restrictions has to be based on the assessment of the ground situation. It also informed the high court about the “framework for implementation of prompt and target action,” which, it said, was shared by the Centre with states and UTs. “The framework also emphasises that Covid-19 management can succeed only through a whole of government and whole of society approach,” the report said.

The status report was filed in response to a notice issued by the Delhi high court on June 18 to the Union government and the Delhi government, seeking their response over the violations of Covid-19 protocols in Delhi’s markets. A vacation bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Asha Menon, which took suo moto cognisance of the violations, had observed that such breaches would only “hasten the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The bench took notice of the violation after a doctor from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) shared with one of the judges photographs of street vendors defying Covid-19 protocols in city’s markets.

(With PTI inputs)