New Delhi, Oct 4: It is very easy to criticise the government or courts unless you are in the hot seat but even some of the most advanced nations of the world faced difficulties in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court on Monday told a petitioner seeking probe into shortage of Oxygen supply during the second wave.
At this time when the country is facing a difficult situation, people must be wary of doing anything which may have a demoralising effect on the authorities who are dealing with the crisis, the apex court said.
The remarks were made by the court while hearing a PIL seeking setting up of a Commission of Inquiry, headed by a retired judge of the apex court or the high court, or a CBI probe into the alleged non-supply and non-availability of medical oxygen for COVID-19 patients during the second wave of the pandemic from March to May this year.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna, while dismissing the PIL filed by one Naresh Kumar, said, “Allegations with regard to criminal wrongdoing cannot be assumed nor can be levelled lightly without adequate material. In the circumstances for the reasons indicated, we are not inclined to entertain the PIL. Petition is accordingly dismissed”.
Advocate Medhanshu Tripathi, appearing for Kumar, said that lakhs of people have died during the second wave due to non-availability of Oxygen. “Even in most developed nations in the world, they were not able to contain the pandemic. You see, it is very easy to criticise the government or for that matter courts unless you are in the hot seat,” the bench said.
“Now that the second wave is over, should the court do a legal post-mortem of what went wrong or instead we do something positive, so that such mistakes do not happen again or we are well prepared for the future exigencies,” it added.
“In view of the fact that a body of experts has been constituted to specifically look into matters pertaining to the availability and distribution of Oxygen, it is neither appropriate nor proper to conduct a parallel proceedings by constituting a Commission of Inquiry as sought”, the SC said. (PTI)
