Hyderabad: A two judge panel of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy on Thursday directed the State government to take action against traders and medical stores, which are quoting high prices for sanitizers and facemasks, taking advantage of the prevailing situation due to the coronavirus scare. The panel enquired with Dr. Shankar about the link between temperature and frequency of coronavirus. The virus cannot survive in temperatures above 30 degree centigrade said Dr Shankar and explained that Telangana, therefore, does not face danger of human transmission of cases.
The panel was dealing with the batch of public interest litigation cases pertaining to spread of communicable diseases, including coronavirus. Earlier in the day, the Advocate General informed that sufficient steps are being taken by the government to tackle the situation. He informed that the government had taken initiatives to run five testing labs, including those at Osmania Hospital, Fever Hospital, MGM Hospital in Warangal with a capacity to test 100 samples per day, adding to the existing laboratory at Gandhi Hospital. He also informed about the awareness measures taken at Anganwadi centres and publicity campaign being carried out to inform public at large. The court expressed concern over the prices of sanitizers and masks that were shooting up. It enquired about the concerned authorities actions against shops charging high prices. When the AG said that a team of doctors had studied the best practices, the panel said “simply stating best practices is not enough elaborate as to what are the best practices and the practices that can be adopted in Telangana.”
Senior counsel S Niranjan Reddy said although the State is doing enough it should be prepared to face the worst situations. As pointed out by the senior counsel the panel directed the government to file a report on surveillance team, call centre team, material management team, infrastructure isolation wards, private hospital management team and transport and ambulance management teams’ constitution and their functioning. Senior counsel also informed that the Disaster Management Act also enables the States to rope in experts from private sector. Directing the State to file its detailed report by April 23 the State adjourned the case to April 26.
Status quo order to NMC on display boards
Justice Challa Kodandaram of the Telangana High Court directed the newly constituted Nizampet Municipal Corporation (NMC) to maintain ‘status quo’ with regard to over 100 display boards between Pragathi Nagar Cheruvu and Elephant statue. The order came on a writ petition filed by G Sridhar who was awarded a contract at the rate of Rs 75,000 per annum for five years by the erstwhile Pragathi Nagar Gram Panchayat. Deepak Misra, counsel for the petitioner, pointed out that the newly formed corporation was bound by the contract and cannot unilaterally and without reason cancel the permission. He pointed out that the government had not even taken any policy decision in the regard and the order of cancellation was arbitrary and illegal.
Court refuses to interdict GHMC on building demolition
Justice Kondarlarum refused to interdict GHMC from the ongoing demolition of a 6-floor building, Gokul flats, at Hafeezpet. The court was dealing with a writ petition filed by D Srinivas Rao. The petitioner complained that the demolition was high-handed and without notice to him. Sampath Prabhakar, GHMC counsel, refuted the argument and said notice was issued and the petitioner was trying to steal an advantage due to some varied survey numbers. The counsel further pointed out in another related writ petition, the court had directed the petitioner not to proceed with the construction and yet he went ahead with the 6-floor construction. The GHMC was facing contempt proceeding for permitting such construction in the teeth of court orders. The judge having refused to stop the demolition, directed the connected case and the present writ petition to be heard together.
Directive of reservation of 10 constable posts
Justice P Naveen Rao of Telangana High Court directed 10 posts of constables be reserved in the ongoing recruitment by the Staff Selection Commission. The order comes on a writ plea filed by ten aspiring CRPF/BSF and allied services candidates. According to the petitioners, the recruiting authorities rejected the candidature of the petitioners for apparent discrepancy in the application forms relating to the district of the petitioners. The petitioners complained that the government proceeded to alter the name of the districts. The petitioners had mentioned the erstwhile district they belonged to. Deepak Misra, counsel in the Legal Aid Services case, pointed out that the original documents, including the Aadhar cards, were in the name of the original district, i.e. Nizamabad, Warangal, etc. However, subsequent certificates described the newly carved out districts. The judge made it clear that the records be produced before the court. He also made it clear that if the non-consideration of the petitioners was solely on grounds of discrepancy in the name of the district then the petitioners had a legitimate grievance. The Judge directed the matter to be listed on March 18 to enable the authorities produce records.
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on WhatsApp / Telegram everyday. Click these links to subscribe and save this number 9182563636 on your contacts.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .
