The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Central and Delhi governments to respond to a petition for a direction to ensure fair and equitable sale/distribution of masks, hand sanitisers and liquid soap among the public to deal with COVID-19.
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A Bench, led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao, issued notice to the governments on the petition filed by the NGO, Justice For Rights Foundation, that the prices of these protective items had increased manifold. Guidelines should be put in place to control the prices and availability of these goods.
“Governments around the world, in conjunction with health institutions around the world, have issued various guidelines and precautionary methods that are required to be taken by individuals to effectively stop and curtail the spread of the disease… Among various guidelines and other steps required to be taken, covering one’s face and sanitising hands are the most important,” the petition said.
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The petition said the notifications that these governments had issued on the prices of face masks and hand sanitisers had little effect. “...even after the issuance of such notification and orders, several chemists throughout the country have not reduced the prices or [were not] deterred from selling the essential commodities at a higher price...,” the petition said.
It called for a task force to enforce the price control orders.
