The Supreme Court has come to the rescue of the beleaguered country by directing the Union and state governments to consider free testing of citizens for the COVID-19 virus.
The basic right to life and livelihood of young advocates have been affected because of this pandemic. It is no doubt true that thousands of others such as migrant labourers, taxi and auto rickshaw drivers, bhelpuri wallas and others of their ilk have also been affected.
This is why some advocates have written to CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde, asking for the creation of an Emergency Fund under the Advocates Act 1961 and the Advocates Welfare Scheme, 1988. This will help young advocates with upto 3 years of experience, and their dependants, to tide over this pandemic. But it appears daily-wage migrant labourers and others are not as lucky as these young advocates as there seems to be no emergency fund for them.
India has now reported 5274 corona cases with Wockhardt Hospital having 56 health workers infected, according to a news report by Republic TV. However, section 144 was violated by a Congress MLA who led a protest for those who were affected by the lockdown, according to TV news. What appears ironical is that the Congress MLA has injected politics even when the nation has been afflicted by a catastrophe.
It cannot be ascertained how much burden will have to be borne by the national and state exchequers if the Supreme Court advisory suggesting that free testing for the COVID-19 virus should be carried out in public and private hospitals. The very fact that each Supreme Court judge has donated Rs 50,000 while the senior most judge Justice N V Ramanna, who will take over as the next CJI from Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, has donated Rs 1,00,000 for the victims is praiseworthy.
The former CJI Ranjan Gogoi, who stirred up a hornet's nest by exchanging his black gown for the garb of a Rajya Sabha MP, declared in TV interviews that he would donate all his emoluments for developing law libraries of all the law colleges in India. Whether his so-called philanthropic donation will really percolate down to the hole-in the-wall law colleges in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand remain to be seen.
But this is an excellent opportunity for Ranjan Gogoi to prove his philanthropism by donating his entire earnings to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund for the benefit of the disease victims. After all, if his former colleagues can donate 20 per cent of their salaries with Justice N V Ramanna donating 60 per cent of his individual salary, there is no reason why Gogoi cannot go that extra mile.
The pension of a Supreme Court judge is not meagre. And this pension paid from the Consolidated Fund of India enables each judge to support himself and his family with a reasonable degree of comfort. As the President has nominated Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha as a distinguished expert from the judiciary, in these catastrophic times, donating his emoluments will prove his selflessness.
But to return to the handling of this pandemic, the Union government has assured the Supreme Court that it has taken all steps to protect health workers after the outbreak. A division bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Ravindra Bhat said the outbreak of the pandemic was a national calamity which required all citizens to cooperate with health workers. As some health workers were attacked, the bench warned about strict action against such miscreants.
The bench passed a slew of interim orders to contain the pandemic. It observed that it was the duty of all citizens to remain indoors and observe washing of hands after touching articles brought from outdoors. What has emerged during this lockdown is that urgent petitions can be disposed of online through video conferencing in the Supreme Court and most of the 24 high courts. This obviates the need for lawyers to address the bench face-to-face.
Using technologies such as Zoom, two retired judges B N Srikrishna and Madan Lokur took part in a video conference with Jamshed Mistry and others which proved that technology could revolutionise the way courts function during this pandemic. What has emerged is that although the 14th Finance Commission allocated Rs 700 crores to the 24 high courts to digitise their records, these courts were reluctant to adopt new technology.
Justice Madan Lokur pointed out that such reluctance stemmed from an ego issue and the reluctance of a few judges to adapt to new technology. If all court records were digitised, this would have speeded up disposal of cases even during this pandemic. The Supreme Court ordering the government to consider directing free testing of citizens for the coronavirus, will result in speeding up of technological change in all the courts.
The free testing will arrest the pandemic to some extent because according to a report in Indian Express, 17 districts have high concentration, 200 districts have not more than 10 corona cases while 400 districts are corona-free. But epidemiologists and statisticians must reconfirm if these districts are really virus-free. In 2018, India issued 500,000 medical visas.
Medical tourism was to grow at 200 per cent annually. Now, the lockdown will hit medical tourism because ban on entry of foreigners cannot be lifted for them to enjoy free testing, which is primarily meant for Indian citizens. Medical tourism contributes a significant chunk of income to the national economy.
An advocate, Amit Dwivedi, who filed the PIL in the Supreme Court which asked for free-testing, stated the primary medical care expense in low expense countries is $ 41 whereas within India it was just $ 27 or Rs 2052 which is much cheaper than the cheapest countries. In fact, this was 1/3rd less than the average per capita expense on primary health care, his petition in the apex court pointed out. To sum up, the pandemic may prove to be a blessing for the courts and the judiciary by forcing older judges with an obstinate mindset which resists technological change to ensure digitisation of old records.
This will free up valuable space in the records section of the high courts for computers to further revolutionise hearings through video conferencing. In turn, faster utilisation of funds allocated for modernisation of courts will ensure the government does not reduce funds for such projects. The writer holds a Ph.D. in Media Law and is a journalist-cum-lawyer of the Bombay High Court.
