[Fire Tragedy in Covid Hospitals] Facts need to come out correctly: Supreme Court to Gujarat government

The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up Gujarat government for its oversight in preventing fire tragedies taking place in the COVID hospitals in the State..The court said that while the affidavit submitted before the top court by the State government painted a rosy picture, the same was in contradiction to the report of the Chief Electrical Engineer. "We have seen your counter reply. According to you everything is good. So far state hospital is concerned all well. So far commission is concerned that has also expired. Your stand is contrary to your own chief electrical engineer who says there are issues with the wiring," Justice MR Shah, who was on the Bench, told the government counsel. No one should suppress the facts which need to come out correctly, he added. .No one can suppress the facts. The facts need to come out in correct fashion.Supreme Court.Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta apprised the Court that an enquiry committee headed by retired High Court judge, Justice DK Mehta has been put in place to investigate the Rajkot fire tragedy..However, the Supreme Court noted that the said committee will look into the Rajkot incident alone while a similar incident at Ahmedabad, in which seven people had died, continues to be ignored..The top court was hearing a suo motu case concerning Covid deaths in various States and handling of dead bodies of Covid victims..During the previous hearing, the apex court had expressed shock at the the fire tragedy at a Rajkot hospital in Gujarat which led to the death of 5 Covid patients. This had prompted the Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan to take suo motu cognisance of the case. .The Bench which also comprised Justices R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah had sought a response from the Gujarat government on the incident while also taking strong exception to implementation of fire safety mechanism in hospitals across the country..[BREAKING] "Shocking": Supreme Court takes suo motu cognisance of Rajkot hospital fire, seeks response from Gujarat.The Court had said that though there are guidelines and reports from time to time, the same are not implemented by States and the inspection of electrical lines is lax leading to such frequent short circuits and accidents..[Breaking] Lack of proper COVID-19 Treatment and Dignified Handling of Dead Bodies: Supreme Court takes Suo Motu cognizance.Disposal of human body should be done with due respect: Calcutta HC issues guidelines for dignified disposal of dead bodies of COVID victims.Regarding the Covid situation, the apex court had, on June 19, 2020, passed a slew of directions to the States/Union Territories with the object of continuous supervision and monitoring of government hospitals, COVID dedicated hospitals and other hospitals taking care of COVID patients.During the previous hearing, the Court had expressed alarm at the worsening Covid-19 situation, particularly in Gujarat and Delhi and sought details of the steps taken by the governments in those States to tackle the crisis..The court after a brief hearing on Tuesday, adjourned the case for further consideration on November 3 since the judges had not perused the Central government's latest affidavit in this regard.