Medical disasters and the role of law
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When powers are conferred to a matrix of authorities, courts cannot displace, much less brush, them aside and assume their role
In the zeal to deal with the Covid crisis, the Constitution and the law often go unnoticed. The role of the governments at the Centre, in the States and at local level is finely nuanced in the distribution of powers in the Constitution.
However, the legislative framework is inadequate nothing apart from the Epidemic Act, 1897. A State Government is empowered to make regulations and such temporary measures as necessary. Yet, in none of the High Courts all the regulations traceable to this power have been tabled.
PTI
Updated May 8, 2021, 10:28 pm IST Union government shall act on Task Force s recommendations, including on allocation of oxygen
Supreme Court of India. (PTI)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has constituted a 12-member National Task Force of top medical experts to formulate a methodology for allocation of oxygen to states and union territories for saving lives of COVID-19 patients and to facilitate a public health response to the pandemic.
The top court named a sub-group for carrying out the audit exercise for Delhi s health infrastructure and allocation of oxygen and said that it shall consists of Randeep Guleria of AIIMS, Sandeep Budhiraja of Max Healthcare and two IAS officers not below the rank of Joint Secretary one each from the Centre and the Delhi government.
The Supreme Court has directed the 12-member National Task Force (NTF) set up on Saturday to streamline oxygen allocation in the country to form sub-groups for each state/Union Territory to conduct an audit for determining whether the oxygen .
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Supreme Court directs National Task Force (NTF) to audit oxygen supply to states, UTs.
The Supreme Court has directed the 12-member National Task Force (NTF) set up on Saturday to streamline oxygen allocation in the country to form sub-groups for each state/Union Territory to conduct an audit for determining whether the oxygen supplies allocated by the Centre are reaching the concerned state, UTs.
A bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah said, The purpose of conducting audits is to ensure a measure of accountability for the proper distribution of oxygen supplies made available by the Union Government to the States/UTs.