A letter has been sent to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India Arvind Bobde requesting immediate court’s intervention and to pass a stay order on the community testing in Goa State.
Brief Facts
The letter was sent by activists Ms. Latoya Mistral Ferns, Mr. Girish Chodankar, State President of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee and Mr. Michael Ferns, Chairmen of Goa Citizens Welfare Trust. The letter submitter is of the opinion that conducting of the survey or testing will leave the community at risk and they call it “ill-advised” and “inadequately planned”. A similar petition was filed by Dattatreya Naik of Goa Secondary Teachers Association in the Goa High Court but this matter was delayed to 13th April, 2020. The petitioners to PIL sent to the Chief Justice of India have said “We pray that urgent orders may be passed in the matter, as this Hon’ble Supreme Court sees fit on Sunday, April 12, 2020, as the Hon’ble High Court of Goa has delayed the hearing of the matter to Monday, April 13, 2020, by which time it will already be too late to protect the citizens of Goa, particularly the elderly and infirm of health as the potentially calamitous survey will have already begun for 700,000 households!”[i]. The petitioners put fourth that the people delegated with the work to every door are non-health department government staff, the government is neglecting the protection of lakhs of people by not providing enough protection to the persons going for a door-door test. The government has not guaranteed any legal protection or insurance to these people. There might be chance of the virus spreading when any person with the virus is in contact with this delegated worker. The delegated workers are neither trained for this work. Many delegates have already expressed their “dismay” with the lack of basic protection. “Not only are they being put in danger and being left uninsured for this task by the State Government, there is a real risk that these 7000 surveyors may infect lakhs of citizens in the course of their duty. Your Lordship is most likely aware that even medical doctors in Goa are complaining about the acute shortfall in PPE”[ii], are few other points stated in the letter.
Key Features
1. A letter has been sent to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India Arvind Bobde requesting immediate court’s intervention and to pass a stay order on the community testing in Goa State.
2. Latoya Mistral Ferns, Mr. Girish Chodankar, and Mr. Michael Ferns are the petitioners to the letter.
3. Petitioners put fourth that the people delegated with the work to every door are non-health department government staff
4. The delegated workers are neither trained for this work; the government has not guaranteed any legal protection or insurance to these people.
5. Many delegates have already expressed their “dismay” with the lack of basic protection.
6. The petitioners are of the opinion that, without any proper protection, the virus might spread to lakhs.
Conclusion
The decision taken by the State Government of Goa is worth reconsidering, and the petition filed by the petitioners is requesting the Supreme Court to immediately halt the survey, even a day late could cost lives of lakhs.
Edited by J. Madonna Jephi
Approved & Published – Sakshi Raje
End Notes
[i] Sanya Talwar, ‘Ill-Advised’ And ‘Inadequately planned’: Letter Petition To CJI Seeks Stay On Community Testing In Goa Live Law (2020), https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/ill-advised-and-inadequately-planned-letter-petition-to-cji-seeks-stay-on-community-testing-in-goa-155132 (last visited Apr 13, 2020).
[ii] Sanya Talwar, ‘Ill-Advised’ And ‘Inadequately planned’: Letter Petition To CJI Seeks Stay On Community Testing In Goa Live Law (2020), https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/ill-advised-and-inadequately-planned-letter-petition-to-cji-seeks-stay-on-community-testing-in-goa-155132 (last visited Apr 13, 2020).
