Delhi High Court
Gaurav Kumar Bansal vs Union Of India & Ors. on 7 August, 2020
$~7.
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
% Date of Decision: 7th August, 2020
+ W.P.(C) 3736/2020
GAURAV KUMAR BANSAL ..... Petitioner
Through: Petitioner in person.
Versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr.Chetan Sharma, ASG with
Mr.Kirtiman Singh, CGSC; Mr.Waize Ali Noor,
Mr.Rohan Anand, Advs. for UOI/ICMR.
Mr.Sameer Vashisht, ASC with Ms.Urvi Kapoor,
Adv. for R-2&3.
Mr.Tushar Sannu, ASC with Ms.Ankita
Bhadouriya, Adv. for R-4/IHBAS.
CORAM:
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRATEEK JALAN
JUDGMENT
: D.N.Patel, Chief Justice (Oral)
Proceedings in the matter have been conducted through video
conferencing.
1. This public interest litigation has been preferred with the following
prayers:-
"A. Issue a Writ/Order/Direction in the nature of mandamus
against respondents and in particular Respondent No.01
and Respondent No.02 to issue GUIDELINES with
respect to COVID 19 TESTING FACILITY for
HOMELESS MENTALLY ILL PERSONS.
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Location:
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B. Pass any other Order or Direction which this Hon'ble
Court may deems fit and proper under the facts and
circumstances as mentioned above."
2. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and looking to the
affidavits filed by the respondents, especially the latest affidavit dated 6th
August, 2020, it appears that certain steps are being taken for testing the
homeless mentally ill persons for COVID-19. The principal difficulty which
had been brought to our notice, as recorded in the earlier orders, was that
homeless mentally ill persons often do not possess identity documents,
address and mobile phone number, which were being required prior to
testing. It appears that this concern has been addressed in the aforesaid
affidavit dated 6th August, 2020 filed on behalf of the Indian Council for
Medical Research. Paragraphs -7 and 9 of the said affidavit read as under:-
7. It is further submitted that in so far as the observations of
this Hon‟ble Court regarding establishment of camps for the
homeless/mentally ill patients are concerned and as to whether
such patients are required to submit Govt. ID details and mobile
telephone number mandatorily as per the guidelines issued by
ICMR for COVID-19 laboratory testing, a clarification has
been sought from the answering respondent for tackling the
situation related to homeless/mentally ill patients, who may
factually not possess such documents/numbers. In this regard it
is submitted that:-
(a) State specific guidelines for establishment of camps for
mentally challenged/homeless patients can be issued and further
implemented by the respective States. Thereafter, the said State
authorities may adopt suitable protocol to address the grievance
raised while ensuring that strategy of „Test/Track/Treat‟ is
followed.
(b) In addition all States have been given access on ICMR
portal by merging the Application Programming Interface
(„APIs‟).
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Digitally Signed By:JUSTICE D
N PATEL
Location:
Signing Date:08.08.2020
09:02:14
(c) Further, individuals being tested who factually do not
possess a phone number; a number "9999999999" can be
entered into the database. It is clarified that this number may be
used for homeless/mentally ill patients only.
(d) In addition, for address of these people, the address of
testing labs or hospitals of admission may be entered.
(e) In so far as the RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription-
Polymerase Chain Reaction) Application is concerned, the issue
was under deliberation of this Hon‟ble Court in WP(C)No.3031
of 2020 titled „Shri Rakesh Malhotra vs State of NCT of Delhi
& Ors.‟ Wherein in terms of the directions of this Hon‟ble
Court a meeting was held on 23.06.2020 between various stake
holders and several issues had been resolved, including the
operation of RT-PCR App. It is submitted that the ICMR does
not have any role in the operation of the RT-PCR App.
xxx xxx xxx
9. It is submitted that the answering respondent has already
issued a generic Advisory dated 23.06.2020 namely 'New
Additional Strategies for COVID-19 Testing' wherein at para A
(ii) and para B (ii) of Annexure 1 and para (xvi) of Annexure 2
of the said Advisory has specifically mentioned about the
testing strategies for mentally ill/homeless patients. The said
Advisory of the answering respondent is available on the
website of ICMR and has already been filed before this Hon'ble
Court in the present case."
3. A perusal of the above makes it clear that steps have now been taken
to enable testing of the homeless mentally ill persons for Covid-19.
4. However, it is further suggested by the petitioner that as an
alternative, the identity of the concerned police officer having jurisdiction
upon the area in question shall also allowed to be noted in place of the
patient‟s contact details.
5. Thus, we hereby direct the concerned respondent authorities that over
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N PATEL
Location:
Signing Date:08.08.2020
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and above the aforesaid measures as noted in paragraphs 7 and 9 of the
additional affidavit of ICMR reproduced hereinabove, as an alternative,
wherever it is not possible to secure the patient‟s contact details, identity of
the concerned police officer having jurisdiction upon the concerned area
shall also be allowed to be submitted.
6. Mr. Chetan Sharma, learned ASG assures us that the aforesaid
provisions will be widely disseminated amongst all concerned expeditiously.
7. With these observations, we see no reason to further monitor this
case. The petition is, accordingly, disposed of.
CHIEF JUSTICE
PRATEEK JALAN, J
AUGUST 07, 2020
'anb'
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:JUSTICE D
N PATEL
Location:
Signing Date:08.08.2020
09:02:14
