NEW DELHI: The Centre on thursday admitted before the Supreme Court that no Covid-19 specific National Plan, mandated under Disaster Management Act, was framed and that no 'Minimum Standards of Relief' was enumerated to ameliorate the difficulties faced by migrant workers, poor and destitutes affected by the pandemic and lockdown.
However, solicitor general Tushar Mehta informed the court that it would have been a futile exercise to prepare a 'one size fits all" National Plan given the dynamic nature of pandemic and its varying effects in different states. He said that the ministry of health and family welfare, being the nodal ministry under DM Act, had issued several national plans – 'Cluster Containment Plan for Covid-19' on march 2 and updated it on May 16; model micro-plan for containing local outbreak of Covid-19 to enable states to plan further action on the field keeping in mind emerging situations; and 'Containment Plan for large outbreaks of Covid-19' issued on April 4 and updated on May 16.
Referring to petitioners' oft repeated complaints, highlighted by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, A M Singhvi and rights activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan, that there had been no Covid-19 specific national plan, Mehta informed a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M R Shah that the national plan and the minimum standards of relief were framed in pre-Covid period and hence are general in nature providing mechanism to combat all kinds of disasters and biological diseases, and hence "could not have been specific to deal with the effects and impacts of the nature of Covid-19."
"As the pandemic is a rapidly evolving situation, it is inadvisable to prescribe a nation-wide rigid model to approach management of this outbreak in the country. The need of the hour is to remain dynamic as the virus itself in order to adopt a flexible and streamlined approach to deal with the pandemic," the Centre said in its affidavit.
"The infection has spread across various parts of the country with varied intensity necessitating graded response and, hence, the response cannot be one size fits all. The Ministry of health and family welfare has accordingly provided a series of guidelines to coordinate with states and districts in their endeavour to manage the situation based on their respective field condition," it said.
Mehta said the existing national Plan, framed prior to Covid outbreak, has clearly mentioned about PPEs and other precautions to be taken during a pandemic caused by a virus and hence remained a guiding force. However, "a national plan is not a document that contains microscopic details as to day to day management of the issues arising out of different disasters", he said.
The Centre's affidavit gave details of the monetary and financial assistance packages announced by the Centre to provide relief to the needy, including migrant workers, farmers, pooRead More – Source
NEW DELHI: The Centre on thursday admitted before the Supreme Court that no Covid-19 specific National Plan, mandated under Disaster Management Act, was framed and that no 'Minimum Standards of Relief' was enumerated to ameliorate the difficulties faced by migrant workers, poor and destitutes affected by the pandemic and lockdown.
However, solicitor general Tushar Mehta informed the court that it would have been a futile exercise to prepare a 'one size fits all" National Plan given the dynamic nature of pandemic and its varying effects in different states. He said that the ministry of health and family welfare, being the nodal ministry under DM Act, had issued several national plans – 'Cluster Containment Plan for Covid-19' on march 2 and updated it on May 16; model micro-plan for containing local outbreak of Covid-19 to enable states to plan further action on the field keeping in mind emerging situations; and 'Containment Plan for large outbreaks of Covid-19' issued on April 4 and updated on May 16.
Referring to petitioners' oft repeated complaints, highlighted by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, A M Singhvi and rights activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan, that there had been no Covid-19 specific national plan, Mehta informed a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M R Shah that the national plan and the minimum standards of relief were framed in pre-Covid period and hence are general in nature providing mechanism to combat all kinds of disasters and biological diseases, and hence "could not have been specific to deal with the effects and impacts of the nature of Covid-19."
"As the pandemic is a rapidly evolving situation, it is inadvisable to prescribe a nation-wide rigid model to approach management of this outbreak in the country. The need of the hour is to remain dynamic as the virus itself in order to adopt a flexible and streamlined approach to deal with the pandemic," the Centre said in its affidavit.
"The infection has spread across various parts of the country with varied intensity necessitating graded response and, hence, the response cannot be one size fits all. The Ministry of health and family welfare has accordingly provided a series of guidelines to coordinate with states and districts in their endeavour to manage the situation based on their respective field condition," it said.
Mehta said the existing national Plan, framed prior to Covid outbreak, has clearly mentioned about PPEs and other precautions to be taken during a pandemic caused by a virus and hence remained a guiding force. However, "a national plan is not a document that contains microscopic details as to day to day management of the issues arising out of different disasters", he said.
The Centre's affidavit gave details of the monetary and financial assistance packages announced by the Centre to provide relief to the needy, including migrant workers, farmers, pooRead More – Source
