Jharkhand critical of Centre’s objection to SC intervention to deal with COVID-19 pandemic

The Jharkhand authorities hailed the Supreme Court for its well timed intervention, saying it led to optimum distribution and utilisation of oxygen and different important medicine amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and termed the Centre’s objection to the judicial interference as “misplaced and unwarranted”.

The JMM-Congress coalition government was critical of the objections raised by the Centre on the scope of judicial review and the jurisdiction exercised by the top court in taking suo motu cognizance of the matter related to supply of medicines, oxygen and vaccines to deal with the massive second wave of COVID-19.

An affidavit has been filed by the Jharkhand government in the suo motu case on distribution of essential supplies and services during the pandemic, in which the Centre had on May 9 justified its COVID-19 vaccination policy and response to the pandemic and said “any overzealous, although well-meaning judicial intervention, might lead to unexpected and unintended penalties”.

The state authorities has additionally filed an intervention utility within the matter in search of pressing instructions to the Union authorities to disband the necessary registration on Co-WIN utility below the ‘Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination’ with regard to the state.

The affidavit filed by the state by way of Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan and Additional Advocate General Arunabh Chowdhury mentioned, “The objection taken by the Union of India in its affidavit dated May 9, 2021 on the scope of judicial review and the jurisdiction exercised by this court in the present proceedings is misplaced and unwarranted”.

It mentioned that with the latest surge of COVID-19 pandemic and the general public well being disaster which threatens to submerge humanity, “the intervention of this court was timely and the directions issued and measures suggested by this court has resulted in monitoring the health measures and ensuring the optimal distribution and utilisation of Oxygen, essential drugs, medical infrastructure and vaccination measures”.

The Jharkhand authorities additional mentioned that the unprecedented humanitarian disaster arising out of the pandemic, with which the nation is grappling with at the moment second, “requires the intervention of this court to ensure that the central government and the States act in tandem in fighting the pandemic”.

The affidavit filed by deputy secretary of the well being division of the state mentioned, “the continued supervision of this court is also required to bring in uniformity through the country with regard to the supply and pricing of vaccines, more so, when there is an acute shortage of vaccines faced by the states to vaccinate those in the age group of 18 to 44 years”.

It mentioned Jharkhand has taken all steps obligatory for guaranteeing compliance of the instructions/measures urged by the courtroom in its order dated April 30, to comprise the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to to guarantee compliances of the assorted SOPs and pointers.

It mentioned the state has additionally taken steps for compliance of courtroom’s instructions and have created a 24×7 operational vehicle-mounted inventory of oxygen cylinders for emergency use referred to as ‘Sanjeevani Vahan’, which might be rushed every time a request or SOS message is obtained from a hospital.

It mentioned another steps taken embrace decongestion of the availability chain by shifting refilling demand to under-utilised oxygen refillers, creation of contingency/backup plan by the hospital to deal with short-term oxygen shortages, rational use of oxygen for administration of COVID-19 and nomination of nodal officers in all districts for guaranteeing steady and uninterrupted provide of oxygen.

Meanwhile, the appliance filed by the state authorities sought that or not it’s allowed to design its personal “robust, pragmatic and user-friendly mechanism” for registration for COVID-19 vaccination course of on the bottom that the state has confronted main issue in registering the potential beneficiaries as there are points of digital literacy and digital exclusion aside from glitches within the portal particularly in rural areas.

“The Applicant State being the tribal state and where the digital literacy rate is very low, it is difficult for its people to register online for vaccination via Co-WIN’s website or mobile application. The mandatory registration of Co-WIN for 18-45 years has led to digital exclusion of people, particularly those who do not have smart phones or/and access to internet connection,” it mentioned.

The utility mentioned Jharkhand being a state with heavy forest cowl and hard terrain has many villages that comes below community shadow space.

“Unlike Co-WIN, the Jharkhand State Portal (http://amritvahini.in) will assist within the remotest of the areas irrespective of community connectivity in order that the agricultural and tribal inhabitants of the state can simply attain out on the vaccination centre and get advantages of it with similar ease as city inhabitants making ‘vaccination for all’ true in each letter and spirit,” it mentioned.

On April 30, the highest courtroom had directed the Centre to formulate inside two weeks a nationwide coverage on admissions to hospitals within the wake of the second wave of COVID-19 and mentioned no affected person shall be denied hospitalisation or important medicine in any state for lack of native residential proof.

It had requested the Centre that in collaboration with the states it ought to put together a buffer inventory of oxygen for emergency functions and decentralise the situation of the emergency shares.