Didn’t order Covid posters on homes: Government

NEW DELHI:

The Supreme Court

on Tuesday said affixing Covid-positive notice outside coronavirus infected people’s residences made others treat them as untouchables even as the Centre said it has not issued any direction in this regard to state governments.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta

told a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, RS Reddy and MR Shah that the

health ministry

has not issued any direction to states on affixing notices outside the residences of Covid-positive patients. “If it is done to malign somebody, it should be avoided,” he said.

When Mehta said states could be doing this to warn strangers to the area to be careful in interacting with people of the household and take precautions while doing so, Justice Shah said, “The reality at the ground level is different, once the government affixes the notice, then people treat the infected person as an untouchable.”

However, the bench expressed displeasure at the “all is well” affidavit filed by the Gujarat government while responding to questions on lax fire safety measures in hospitals, leading to two fires in hospitals in Ahmedabad and Rajkot in which 14 patients died.

Justice Shah told the Gujarat government, “As per you, everything is alright. Your own electrical department says the wiring in the hospitals were of poor quality. Even then all is okay.” He then asked the solicitor general to look into the matter and said, “An attempt is being made to suppress facts.” Mehta said he would speak with the state government for necessary remedial action.

In its affidavit, the Centre said the home ministry has asked all states and UTs to submit by December 4 “status reports on implementation of fire safety norms as provided in various advisories, issued from time to time as quoted in the letter, to prevent recurrence of fire accidents in hospitals/nursing homes”.

The Centre said states and UTs will also submit by December 4 action taken reports on the enquiry conducted by them for incidents of fires that have occurred in hospitals in their respective states during the last five years. They have been asked to examine the building plans of hospitals and report if they conformed to the national

building code

by December 15. The SC posted the fire safety issue for hearing on Thursday.