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‘Responsible and responsive’: Solicitor General lauds PM for Covid fight
Tushar Mehta, the Centre’s second senior-most law officer, said each and every step to deal with Covid-19 was taken by the government in a methodical and scientific manner
The “responsible and responsive” leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has helped India fight the Covid crisis with minimal damage, said solicitor general of India Tushar Mehta on Sunday, adding it is unimaginable as to what would have transpired if the country was under any other leadership.
Mehta, the Centre’s second senior-most law officer, said each and every step to deal with Covid-19 was taken by the government in a methodical and scientific manner. He further said that there were guidelines in place to deal with every aspect of the epidemic.
“But for the responsible and responsive leadership of our prime minister, I don’t think we could have passed through this international crisis with the minimum damage which was unavoidable. Shudder to even imagine what would have happened under any other leadership,” Mehta said while speaking at a virtual session organised by Akhil Bhartiya Adhivakta Parishad.
As the face of the Central government before the Supreme Court in various Covid related petitions, Mehta said he has witnessed first hand the ways in which the government has tackled coronavirus.
“I have gone through each and every aspect of the Covid management undertaken by this government and I can tell that you will not be able to identify or pinpoint any particular area where the government did not touch upon and warn (beforehand), those who were supposed to manage the situation. Each and every ministry, including commerce, finance, telecom, agriculture, health and home had guidelines in place,” Mehta said.
Whenever petitions used to come before court, I used to find that the government had specific guidelines in place in the context of Covid, he added.
Mehta underscored that he was not making political statements to curry favour but was speaking as a citizen and a lawyer who had the opportunity to witness the functioning of the government and the steps taken by them to counter the pandemic.
To detractors, Mehta said the judiciary was accessible to each and every citizen even during lockdown, adding if there is still criticism it showed deliberate indifference and ignorance by such persons about the situation.
The Supreme Court had come under fire during the initial months of the lockdown for its refusal to entertain cases related to Covid and the government’s handling of the same. Former judges, the members of the civil society and many senior lawyers had faulted the top court for accepting the government word on Covid management, particularly the adversities faced by migrant workers, without verifying the government claims. Mehta was the government lawyer in many of these cases and some of his arguments in those matters had also come under scrutiny.
“I don’t think there would be any democracy as large as India in the world where the judiciary has functioned on a daily basis giving access to justice to everyone in the country – right from trial court to Supreme Court and I can vouch for the Supreme Court,” Mehta said.
The Supreme Court, he said, functioned on a daily basis throughout the lockdown starting from March 25.
“The judges of the Supreme Court, many of whom are more than 60 years old, have not taken a single day off. They could have said that their age may not permit them to expose themselves to Covid. But they worked with all precautions which could have been taken. Many petitions before the Supreme Court were avoidable ones and the court had the freedom to impose fine (on the petitioners) but it refrained from doing (so) considering the circumstances,” Mehta said.
