NE LEGAL BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, JUNE 22
Gujarat BJP president C R Paatil on Tuesday said there is “political grudge and grievance” behind the PIL filed by Congress leader Paresh Dhanani in the Gujarat High Court over the distribution of Remdesivir injections from the BJP office in Surat when COVID-19 cases had peaked in April.
In an affidavit-in-reply filed before the court, Paatil claimed that the facilitation of Remdesivir injections for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in Surat and Navsari in south Gujarat was done in accordance with the guidelines issued by competent authorities and at no point was the drug hoarded in the BJP office or elsewhere as alleged in the PIL.
The BJP leader was responding to a PIL filed by Leader of the Opposition Dhanani, which challenged as illegal the act of “hoarding” and “distributing” Remdesivir injections to needy persons by Paatil, an MP from Navsari, and BJP MLA Harsh Sanghavi, in Surat and Navsari in April when the demand for the drug was at its peak due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.
“The present petition is filed with a view to ventilate political grudge and grievance against the present respondents number 3 and 4 (Paatil and BJP MLA Harsh Sanghavi) as well as against the BJP, since the petitioner and the political party are rivals in the political scenario of Gujarat,” Paatil stated in the affidavit.
The matter will come up for hearing in the court of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Biren Vaishnav on July 6.
Paatil said the petition is not maintainable on several counts, and asserted that its “real purpose is to malign (Paatil and Sanghavi) as well as the political party to which they belong and also get publicity in the media”.
“At no point of time was the injection kept for the purpose of hoarding at any place, including the party office of the BJP. The allegation is thoroughly baseless,” he said.
“The availability and facilitation of the injection was done strictly in accordance with the statutory provisions and guidelines issued by the competent authorities…. By the alleged act of facilitating the patients who were in dire need of Remdesivir injections, no public injury was caused, and therefore, the question of vindicating public interest does not arise,” he said.
The BJP leader further said the petitioner should have waited for a reply from the commissioner of the Food and Drugs Control Administration before moving the court, and should have raised his grievances before the chief minister, Governor and other competent authorities
Paatil said he had mobilised senior party workers and elected representatives “to extend maximum help and assistance to those who were in acute need of Remdesivir” when there was a huge demand for the injection and oxygen, etc.
MLA Sanghavi, also a respondent in the case, had earlier stated in his affidavit that more than 2,500 injections were facilitated to needy persons in Surat and Navsari between April 10 and 12 with the “sole intention of compassion and humanity” and to save lives. A total of 2,506 vials of the injection, made available to needy persons in Surat and Navsari, were procured from a distributor, who supplied it to the medical stores, and a hospital in Surat.
Dhanani has in his plea said that the distribution of Remdesivir injection by Paatil and Sanghavi is illegal and violates several provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Pharmacy Act, and Drugs Control Act among others. He has sought the court’s direction to constitute an expert committee of “highly distinguished and neutral persons” to inquire into the incident and present a report before the court in the context of the said Acts as well as the Disaster Management Act, and Epidemic Diseases Act, and action be taken on the basis of the report.
