The Supreme Court on Tuesday disposed of the PIL filed by a former MLA, Swami Agnivesh seeking immediate relief to the poor, informal sector workers, slum dwellers, homeless and economically weaker sections living in hunger due to the outbreak of pandemic disease COVID-19 and Nationwide Lockdown.
A bench comprising Justice N.V. Ramana, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice B.R. Gavai while disposing of the PIL said, “This is a situation where we cannot say whether some task has to be done one way or another. You have suggestions and you can put them to the government for consideration.”
Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves appearing for the petitioner submitted that many States and UTs have not re-started the ‘Anganwadi’ scheme for food distribution.
Solicitor General Tusha Mehta submitted that, “…different aspects have been pointed out in the petition and these aspects will further be looked into and if found necessary, supplementary directions will also be issued … implementation of these directions will also be taken care of.”
It has been alleged in the petition that the Government hardly made any provision for providing basic humanitarian aid and emergency services for the poor for the period of Lockdown. Employment came to an end, wages were stopped, accesses to medical services were restricted and the people were left to starve.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had submitted earlier that the government is taking care and monitoring the situation and gave the assurance of guidelines being implemented for the poor and homeless.
-India Legal Bureau