The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would examine how far courts could intervene in State policy during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic “when collective effort” was required to overcome odds.
“Can the court tell the Executive to get the formula [for vaccines] from companies abroad or decide the number of ventilators... These are times of crisis when everybody has to be cautious... Is this when court should get into all this? Executive has the benefit of experts with their expert knowledge... We will hear submissions on how far constitutional courts should go into these matters... How much we should restrain ourselves,” Justice Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari observed orally.
Justice Maheshwari said these were times for a “collective effort”. “There are certain norms based on which every institution should function,” he noted.
The top court was hearing a plea by the Uttar Pradesh government against a May 17 Allahabad High Court order, which described the medical system in smaller cities and villages of the State during the pandemic as “Ram Bharose”. It stayed the High Court order on May 21.
HC’s slew of directions
The High Court had issued a slew of directions to the government, which included ensuring that nursing homes in the State had oxygen facility for every bed; certain percentages of beds, ventilators, high-flow nasal cannula facility and beds with bipap machines in every nursing home/hospital; every nursing home/ hospital that has more than 30 beds should compulsorily have an oxygen production plant; medical colleges in Prayagraj, Agra, Meerut, Kanpur and Gorakhpur provided enhanced facilities like Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute within four months, etc.
The High Court ordered the State to provide within a month at least 20 ambulances in small towns and have at least two ambulances with ICU facilities in every village. It said these arrangements would help “patients from smaller towns and villages to be brought to bigger hospitals in bigger towns” for medical treatment.
The State government, in the apex court, complained that these directions were impossible to comply with.
‘Arena of governance’
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had urged restraint on the part of High Courts. He said the May 17 order had encroached into the “arena of governance” and breached the principle of separation of powers.
Mr. Mehta, for Uttar Pradesh, said the government catered to a population of over 24 crore. “Despite facing big challenges, the State has been making continuous efforts to control the spread of the pandemic,” he had submitted in an earlier hearing.
The court scheduled the next hearing on August 12.
