COVID-19 situation critical, all caution thrown to the winds: Delhi High Court pulls up AAP Govt

All caution has been thrown to the winds amid the critical situation of COVID-19 pandemic in the national capital, the Delhi High Court remarked on Wednesday taking exception to the Delhi government's response to the increasingly alarming situation (Rakesh Malhotra vs GNCTD). .Taking note of the relaxed norms relating to the movement of the public, the court observed that while the number of permitted guests in a wedding had been increased to 200, seats in public transport were also allowed to be fully occupied..".. even in such a critical situation, the Delhi Government has continued to relax the norms relating to movement of the public.. It is an alarming situation where all caution has been thrown to the winds during this festive season and the public is out in uncontrolled numbers, which itself would become a cause for further spread of the infection,"the High Court said. .It added that there were photos of market places thronging with huge crowds, pulling up the Delhi government for its inaction.."It is one thing for the Delhi Government to state that till a vaccine is introduced to contain the infection, masks should be treated as a vaccine and another thing to demonstrate how it proposes to enforce such a statement,"the court stated..The court also said that if the Delhi Government was serious about implementing this policy/strategy, there would have been some sanctions through appropriate legislation for enforcing wearing of masks in public places by now. .It further observed that while the citizens of Delhi are struggling with the COVID-19, air pollution was adding to their woes and increasing the severity of the disease..The order was passed by a Division Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad while dealing with Advocate Rakesh Malhotra's (Petitioner) petition concerning the rate and status of COVID-19 testing in the city..The petitioner joined the court proceedings from a private hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19. .As the Petitioner submitted that he could not manage to get admission in any of the neighbouring private hospital/nursing home for hics treatment, the ourt recorded that the Petitioner was "just one among several thousands of persons" who were "struggling to find a bed". .During the proceedings, the court took on record the latest Sero-Surveillance Report which suggested that 1 out of 4 persons had already been infected with COVID-19..Further, considering that COVID-19 testing through RAT was still being relied upon heavily by Delhi Government as against testing through RT-PCR and other similar modes, the court opined that Delhi Government could no longer claim that it was bound by ICMR Advisories on the issue and remain oblivious to the ground reality. ."In the light of the above and the mounting cases in past two weeks, alarm bell should have rung within the Government to tackle the situation hands on," the order said. .Delhi Government claimed that it was taking urgent measures to control COVID-19 infection in Delhi..The court, thus, sought a status report from the government asking it to furnish details of the steps taken by it in the past two weeks to control COVID-19 and the manner in which it proposes to deal with the other issues flagged by it. . The matter would be heard next on November 19. .Additional Standing Counsel Satyakam appeared for the Delhi Government. .[Read the Order]