The Delhi High Court will hear a PIL in light of rising cases of the new variant of novel coronavirus in the country to ascertain the action plan in place for handling the upcoming wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Filed by Advocates Rudra Vikram Singh and Manish Kumar on behalf of social worker Jagdish Sharma, the plea seeks a direction to the Centre and the Delhi Government to make arrangement of essential services and supplies for the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic as anticipated on account of the grave threat posed by the new variant of the Covid-19 virus, namely Omicron, throughout India.
Highlighting the havoc caused by the outbreak of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic early last year, the plea points out that the pandemic, in last two years, has dangerously devoured the life of citizen of the country at the extraordinary rapidity with extraordinary fatalities and led to a situation where the entire health infrastructure of the country collapsed.
It further points out that the Delhi Chief Minister, in May last year, assured the people to build adequate infrastructure in the capital to face any forthcoming pandemic situation, however there is no update on the same.
Contending that five Indian states will witness assembly elections in a couple of months and the State Governments are busy in election campaigns neglecting the emergent threat posed by the new variant, the plea also seeks for postponement of the coming elections to contain the spread of the deadly virus. The plea reads thus:
“Article 21 of the Constitution of India recognizes every individual’s right to life and liberty, which also includes the right of life, life with dignity and health as held by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in various cases. The Supreme Court also held that the maintenance and improvement of public health have to rank high amongst the state’s obligations, as these are indispensable to the very existence of the community.”