COVID-19: Plea In SC Seeks Direction To The Centre To Move ICJ Against Chinese Government [Read Petition]

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to the Central Government to approach the International Court of Justice, seeking compensation worth Rs 600 billion USD from the People's Republic of China, for triggering the COVID-19 pandemic and "devastating" the Indian economy.

The petition has been filed by KK Ramesh, stated to be a public spirited person, averring that since individuals cannot directly approach the ICJ, he has been constrained to invoke the writ jurisdiction of the court, to seek an apposite direction to the Union of India.

He has asserted that a remedy against the Chinese Government for causing the pandemic lies before the ICJ as it has acted in violation of the Biological Weapon Convention, 1984, whereby it had agreed not to develop, produce and/ or stockpile Biological and Toxin Weapons.

The Petitioner has proceeded on a premise that the Chinese Government "deliberately created biological weapon" in the form of COVID-19 and leaked it in India in order to destroy the Indian economy.

He hinted towards the mysterious circumstances whereby the disease which originated in China's Wuhan did not breakout in other Chinese cities but travelled thousands of kilometers to India and other continents.

He submitted that many scientists and experts had also confirmed that China was behind the biological warfare.

"Many reputable people scientists and experts have this come to the conclusion that this crisis began when a Chinese biological weapon facility released the COVID19 virus into the India," the plea states.

Due to the crisis set off by the Chinese Government, the Petitioner has alleged, over 7 crore migrants are stranded in different parts of the country, without any source of income or means for survival.

"United Nation's LabourBody has warned about 400 million Indian People working in the informal economy are at risk of falling deeper into poverty due to the COVID19 crisis," he added while also citing the estimates about Indian economy as projected by various International organizations.

He further pointed out that even India's "sovereign rating" was under threat due to the limited fiscal headroom in the aftermath of the pandemic.

"The FITCH rating said India's sovereign rating of BBB could come under pressure with a deteriorating fiscal outlook arising from weaker growth due to the COVID19 outbreak, further deterioration in the fiscal outlook as a result of lower growth or fiscal easing could pressure the sovereign rating in light of the limited fiscal headroom India had when it entered this COVID19 pandemic crisis," the plea states.

Accordingly, direction to the Government to move the ICJ has been sought.

The plea has been drawn by Advocate CR Jaya Sukin and filed through Advocate Narender Kumar Verma.

On a related note, the US State of Missouri has filed a lawsuit against all concerned Chinese authorities in a Federal Court, based on similar grounds.

Likewise, a class action suit is pending before a District Court in the USA, seeking punitive damages in excess of $20 Trillion USD from the Chinese Government for leaking virus from an illegal bioweapons facility in Wuhan.

As regards India, the All India Bar Association along with the International Council of Jurists have filed a complaint in the United Nations Human Rights Council against China for committing "grave offences against the humanity" throughout the world, in the form of COVID-19 pandemic.

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