The Calcutta High Court Friday admitted a public interest litigation related to the current dengue outbreak in West Bengal, and asked the state government to file an affidavit in two weeks on the steps it has taken to prevent the disease.
The petitioner, Basabi Roy Chowdhury, asked the court for a proper policy and constitution of a panel including various government departments concerned to keep vigil and contain the dengue outbreak.
The PIL, filed earlier this week, raised questions about the inadequate infrastructure in some state-run hospitals to fight the disease.
After hearing the petition, a bench of Chief Justice J.N. Patel and Justice Jaymalya Bagchi directed the government to submit details of the steps it has initiated across the state since the outbreak.
Advocate Subrata Mukherjee, representing the petitioner, said the court turned down the state government’s stand that the petition could not be admitted.
“When the state government’s counsel tried to present recent figures from other states on the disease, the bench said it was not concerned with what took place outside the state,” Mukherjee told media persons.
He said the judges sought to know whether the government had made arrangements for adequate supply of medicines such as paracetamol to state-run hospitals.
According to the state government, five people have died while 944 are affected by the disease.
