The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned a petition for issuing directions to the government to declare national financial emergency under Article 360 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
A Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao said the petition would be taken up for hearing after the court resumes its normal functioning. As of now, limited Benches are hearing extremely urgent cases through videoconferencing.
The petition filed by the think-tank, Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), represented by advocate Virag Gupta, said the declaration was necessary to prevent any arbitrary action by the authorities.
“Almost all the fundamental rights such as freedom of movement, most rights under Article 21 and various other fundamental rights have been practically suspended during this lockdown. The general public is not having access to the newspapers, which is happening for the first time after Independence. The closure of courts affects the right to get justice. It is submitted that this requires the imposition of emergency as per the Constitution, and not an order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005,” the petition said.
The petition stated that this was the biggest emergency in independent India and it must be addressed as per constitutional provisions through unified command between Central and State governments. This will be required not only to defeat the war against coronavirus, but also in recovery of the economy after lockdown is over.
