NE LEGAL BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, AUG 18
While state authorities turned a blind eye to the “unauthorised distribution” of Remdesivir injections by a political party in the name of charity, they initiated proceedings against people on the road caught with a few vials of the COVID-19 drug, the Gujarat High Court said on Wednesday and quashed detention orders against four persons.
These four persons were allegedly caught with a few vials of the injection during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the state government had initiated legal proceedings against them for black marketing. They had challenged the detention orders against them in the HC.
When talking about “unauthorised distribution” of Remdesivir, the court of Justice Paresh Upadhyay was referring to camps organised by BJP leaders at the party office in Surat to distribute free of cost vials of the COVID-19 drug to the needy people in April this year – a matter already challenged in the High Court.
While setting aside detention orders against the four persons found in possession of a few vials of Remdesivir during the second wave of COVID-19, the HC said the authorities committed an “error” in treating their activities as an “obstruction in the maintenance of supplies of essential commodities and black marketing”.
The court set aside detention orders passed by the District Magistrate of Bharuch against the four persons under the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act on the basis of FIRs filed against them for allegedly possessing Remdesivir injections.
“In the second wave of the COVID019 pandemic – somewhere between March and May 2021 – the public at large was facing all sorts of difficulties regarding non-availability of beds in the hospitals and medicines like Remdesivir injections, etc,” the judge said.
During this time, the police authorities started registering FIRs on their own against persons on the road for allegedly possessing Remdesivir, the court said.
“At that time, on one hand the state authorities were turning a blind eye to unauthorised distribution of Remdesivir injections – including by high positioned functionaries in the name of charity – and at the same time, the police authorities started registering FIRs on their own and initiated proceedings mainly against the persons on road for allegedly having one/two Remdesivir injections with them unauthorisedly,” the HC observed in its order.
The HC said the detention orders challenged in the petition were passed by the District Magistrate of Bharuch, which is adjoining Surat district, “where thousands of Remdesivir injections were stated to be available for public, from the place other than hospitals/medical stores under the banner of one political party, having blessings of the government(s) of the day.”
The HC found fault with the authorities for issuing the detention orders.
“This court finds that, the detaining authority, in the facts of the case, fell in error in treating the activities of the petitioners as an obstruction in the maintenance of supplies of essential commodities and/or black marketing thereof. The impugned (detention) orders therefore need to be quashed and set aside,” it said.
The HC said in cases like these, preventive detention should not be resorted to, while observing that similar FIRs were registered in many other districts in April-May 2021 for unauthorised procurement and distribution of Remdesivir injections.
