A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed before the apex court challenging the steps taken by the Delhi government for the containment of Corona Virus. The plea that has been filed by Advocate Supriya Pandita through Advocate-on-Record Om Prakash Parihar and Advocate Dushyant Tiwari, sought an answer from the Central and Delhi government upon the failure of their efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the capital which ultimately lead to its spread in the entire country.
Calling the above a violation of Right to Life the plea stated, “in failing to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the capital it has spread to the rest of the country which is antithesis to Article 21 of the Constitution”.
Seeking a CBI probe into the Anand Vihar bus terminal and the Markaz in Nizamuddin gatherings the petitioner alleges that the Centre and the Delhi government had failed to contain the spread of the pandemic asthere was a steep rise in the cases after these incidents
The plea stated, “On the fourth day of the lockdown, tens of thousands of Migrant workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, who were working in Delhi assembled outside the Anand Vihar Bus Terminal, Delhi elbowing each other to board the first available bus that would take them to their hometown or village, these workers were never stopped by the Commissioner of Delhi Police and no action was taken by the Delhi Government and Delhi transport department in order to stop these workers from coming out of their house.”
While calling for a probe it cited news report quoting BJP leader Kapil Mishra according to which the Delhi government had asked the migrant workers to take the DTC bus to reach Anand Vihar bus stand and hence had flouted the restriction of movement of any vehicles. He stated, “government of NCT of Delhi had made announcements in colonies of migrant workers saying that DTC buses would take them to Anand Vihar ISBT terminal and that the govt of Delhi, as per reports, had cut off the electricity and water for the migrant workers asking them to reach UP border where buses would take them home.”
While citing the Nizamuddin incident where about 2500 people had gathered flouting the social distancing norm the petitioner added that it marked the outspread of the virus in Delhi when about 24 of the attendees tested positive for Covid-19 on 30th March.
The petition is marked to be heard by on April 13.
Read the petition here:
