Supreme Court Hearing On Suo Motu COVID Case: LIVE UPDATES

Radhika Roy

31 May 2021 11:19 AM IST

  • Supreme Court Hearing On Suo Motu COVID Case: LIVE UPDATES

    A 3-Judge Bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat has resumed the hearing today the suo moto case on COVID issues (In Re Distribution of Essential Services and Supplies During Pandemic). The hearing was deferred until further notice on May 13 after Justice D Y Chandrachud, the Presiding Judge, tested positive for COVID-19.On April 30, the Bench had...

    A 3-Judge Bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat has resumed the hearing today the suo moto case on COVID issues (In Re Distribution of Essential Services and Supplies During Pandemic). 

    The hearing was deferred until further notice on May 13 after Justice D Y Chandrachud, the Presiding Judge, tested positive for COVID-19.

    On April 30, the Bench had raised queries regarding the Centre's vaccination policy, distribution of essential medicines and oxygen allocation to states, making an observation that the vaccination policy was detrimental to the right to health of citizens and required a revisit.

    In response, the Centre filed an Affidavit, saying that its vaccination policy was formulated on the basis of widespread consultations with experts and stakeholders, and was therefore conforming with Articles 14 and 21.


    Live Updates

    • 31 May 2021 11:57 AM IST

      Gupta: The purpose of this hearing now is to achieve vaccination in shortest amount of time. Scientists have said, one is Dr. M. Vidyasagar, if you have 100 crore doses of vaccines, then you might have covered the minimum requirement by January. This means 6 months.

    • 31 May 2021 11:56 AM IST

      Gupta: Your order of 6th May creates an environment that the issues that are here can be sent to the Force. They can also look into those aspects. They’re all specialists, they’re doctors. They can take it up.

      #SupremeCourtofIndia #COVID19

    • 31 May 2021 11:55 AM IST

      Gupta: Because the issue is before the National Task Force, the Centre says that the oxygen issue should not be gone into by the Court. I agree with that. We are no longer worrying about the present and planning about the future.

    • 31 May 2021 11:54 AM IST

      Gupta: Broad aspect is oxygen. It was dealt with in another matter. The Registry tells us that the report will be filed in that matter.

      SG: I will personally give it to you and you can file it here.

      #SupremeCourtofIndia #COVID19

    • 31 May 2021 11:54 AM IST

      Gupta: I will give an example. GST issues have been referred to GST Council. So petitions that are before on this issue may not need to come up.

    • 31 May 2021 11:53 AM IST

      Gupta: I only want to highlight the issues. Before I do that, on the overall aspect of matted, things have changed on the ground. The pandemic is slightly under control now. Laudatory decisions have been taken by the Centre. We are not critical of them.

    • 31 May 2021 11:52 AM IST

      Justice Chandrachud: Jaideep himself says that maybe some issues have been resolved.

      #SupremeCourtofIndia #COVID19

    • 31 May 2021 11:52 AM IST

      Gupta: We are conscious of the fact that policy is changing and we are not getting into an argument about final detail.

      SG: If you can wait for my fresh Affidavit.

      Justice Chandrachud: Let these concerns be highlighted and you make a note of them.

    • 31 May 2021 11:51 AM IST

      Justice Bhat: This is a real fear amongst the people. I have gotten distress calls from people across the country, that they’re not getting slots. They’re all gone within seconds. 

    • 31 May 2021 11:50 AM IST

      Gupta: For 18 to 44, it was mandatory registration. We are tracking newspapers. Look at how much difficulty we experience for getting a slot. We keep trying. Now how will the labourer go to a centre and keep waiting and trying ?

      Justice Chandrachud: He’s a daily wage labourer.

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