[BREAKING] "Shocking": Supreme Court takes suo motu cognisance of Rajkot hospital fire, seeks response from Gujarat

The fire tragedy at a Rajkot hospital in Gujarat which led to the death of 5 Covid patients is "shocking" and recurrence of such fire accidents needs thorough introspection, a livid Supreme Court said on Friday taking suo motu cognisance of the incident.

. A three-judge Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah sought a response from the Gujarat government on the incident while also taking strong exception to implementation of fire safety mechanism in hospitals across the country.

The Court said that though there are guidelines and reports from time to time, the same are not implemented by States and the inspection of electrical lines is lax leading to such frequent short circuits and accidents.

. "This is not done. This is happening in different hospitals. There needs to be inspection whether electrical lines are proper or not. How does this short circuit happens. Report given to High Court with respect to fire safety is shocking! You don't have the chief officer," Justice MR Shah said. . "In many cases there are no fire extinguishers. In most of the cases there is a electrical line default," Justice Reddy weighed in observing that the guidelines issued by the Central government are hardly followed by States.

. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the court that the issue will be looked into and said that a joint meeting between fire and electricity departments will be held.

. The Court ordered the Central government to submit a report regarding the steps taken to avoid fire hazards. It also directed the Gujarat government to submit a report on Rajkot fire accident by Tuesday next week.

. The top court was hearing a suo motu case concerning Covid deaths in various States and handling of dead bodies of Covid victims.

.SC issues notice in Suo Motu case on COVID-19 treatment and disposal of bodies; takes note of "deplorable" conditions, decreased testing. In its June 19 order, the Supreme Court had passed slew of directions to the States/Union Territories with the object of continuous supervision and monitoring of government hospitals, COVID dedicated hospitals and other hospitals taking care of COVID patients.

. The Supreme Court had during the previous hearing expressed alarm at the worsening Covid-19 situation , particularly in Gujarat and Delhi and sought details of the steps taken by the governments in those States to tackle the crisis.

. In marriages and political processions, 60 percent are not wearing masks and masks are hanging on their jaws. Supreme Court . It had also asked the states of Maharashtra and Assam to apprise the court of the steps envisaged to manage the crisis.

. During the hearing on Friday, the court noted that enough steps were not being implemented to contain spread of Covid while also noting that development of vaccines was only at the trial stage.

. "Look at the gatherings in states. Second wave has started. Need of the hour is social distancing and mask. We are watching marriages we are seeing political processions. 60 percent not wearing masks and masks are hanging on their jaws," the Bench remarked. . Mehta told the Bench that the Central government has filed an affidavit in which the various directions issued by it have been set out.

. "We have seen all of this but what are the States doing? All States have to rise to the occasion," the Bench responded.

. The case will be heard again on December 1.

[BREAKING] "Shocking": Supreme Court takes suo motu cognisance of Rajkot hospital fire, seeks response from Gujarat

Debayan Roy

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