The Hon’ble Delhi High Court on Thursday (13th May 2021) issued directions to the authorities of Jawaharlal Nehru University (hereinafter referred to as “JNU”) to make or set up a dedicated “Covid Care Centre” with oxygenated beds inside the campus.
The order of the Hon’ble Court also stated that “the premises for the Covid Care Centre should be identified by the COVID Response Team or the COVID Task Force in consultation with the concerned Sub Divisional Magistrate (hereinafter referred to as “SDM”). This would help to isolate the affected persons and to monitor their basic parameters.”
The petition has been moved before the Court by the Teacher Union and the Student Union of the JNU. They argued that the union body wrote several letters to the respective Registrar and the Vice-Chancellor of the University for their immediate intervention w.r.t. the current situation. However, not a single reply came from the side of the above-said authorities.
In response, the JNU administration submitted before the Court that a nine-members COVID Task Force has already been existed and assisting several patients who contracted COVID-19 and required hospitalization.
After listening to the arguments from both sides, the Hon’ble Justice Prathiba M. Singh observed “if it is true that the JNU’s administration is failed to give response to letters of teachers and students, then it would constitute neglect kind of act by the JNU administration in a completely alarming situation.” Thus, the court ordered the administration to submit the report and to take further steps apart from what has already been taken by the Covid Response Team and the Covid Task Force.
