HC dismisses plea for door to door COVID testing in Mumbai
A bench of Chief justice Dipankar Datta and Justice AASayed dismissed the plea holding that there weren't anyexisting WHO guidelines or advisories from the Indian Councilfor Medical Research that mandated such door to door screeningtests.
The plea filed by activist Anil Galgali had soughtthat owing to the rising number of COVID cases in Mumbai, theauthorities follow the model of doorstep screenings which wasimplemented in Bhilwara in Rajasthan to successfully check thespread of the pandemic.
The HC said the plea did not specify if there existedany similarities between Mumbai and Bhilwara and why or howthe same technique could work for both cities.
"The plea does not even refer to any feature inBhilwara that is identical or has close resemblance withMumbai. Having regard to the testing times arising out of thepandemic, resources may be scarce for such door to doortesting," the bench said.
"Even otherwise, no guidelines and/or advisory of theWorld Health Organisation or the Indian Council of MedicalResearch have been brought to our notice, which requires theofficial respondents to carry out door to door testing of theresidents," it said while dismissing the plea. AYANSK NSK