Coronavirus: Delhi HC issues notice in PIL to review Government's preparedness to deal with outbreak

The Delhi High Court today issued notice in a public interest litigation seeking review of all the medical facilities and infrastructure available to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. .Notice was issued to the Central Government and Delhi Government by Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar in a petition by Advocate Triveni Potekar..The Petition filed through Advocates Nivedita Sharma and Kirti Mewar states that India is under grave potential risk of being mass infected due to lack of sufficient screening, testing, isolation facilities, trained health workers with PPE (personal protection equipment)and medical infrastructure in smaller cities and rural India..It is added that the public at large is currently gripped with fear and uncertainty due to a lot of misinformation about the virus, which is dynamic and is unfolding new and unknown dimensions each day..Stating that it is the right of the public to know the preparedness of the Centre and Delhi Government, the Petitioner asserts that the authorities are only issuing "press releases" which are vague and lack material particulars..After assessing the information available in public domain with regards the steps taken by the Centre, the Petitioner has opined that the same are "not sufficient and appropriate to handle a mass outbreak".."..the Respondent No 1 (Centre) has not provided any preventive mechanism other than screening at 21 airport and ports and have established only 15 testing centres and 50 thousand PPEs and the same seems grossly inadequate."PIL petitioner.The petitioner has therefore sought judicial review of the preparation and the steps taken by the Central and Delhi Government on scientific basis and not an ad-hoc basis..The petitioner has also sought directions for making available important and relevant information, availability, guidance and easy access to medical facilities to treat and test the COVID-19/Coronavirus for the benefit of the public. .Apart from seeking directions for proper and adequate measures to control and combat the menace of the Coronavirus, direction is also sought for setting up a monitoring committee under the supervision of experts in the field. .The matter would be heard next on March 30.