High Courts should refrain from passing impossible orders: SC

The Supreme Court said that High Courts should refrain from passing directions that cannot be implemented. The top court also said that the HC should refrain from indulging in matters of national importance when the top court is already seized on the case.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday nullified the order of Allahabad High Court where it had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to provide facilities like oxygen, ambulance etc in all nursing homes in a suo moto Covid-19 case.

The court ordered that High Court should consider the possibility of implementation of orders passed by it and avoid passing impossible orders.

The apex court also said that the HC should refrain from indulging in matters of national importance when the top court is already seized on the case. However, proceedings in High Court has not stayed.

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The bench comprising of Justice Vineet Saran and Justice BR Gavai pronounced the order on a petition by the state of Uttar Pradesh which had pleaded before the court that there are over 97,000 villages in UP and to provide two ambulances in every village within a month is inhumanly impossible. UP said that it is willing to adhere to the HC orders but in case of failure it will be an embarrassment.

SC ordered on Friday that the directions of the High Court passed on May 17 shall not be treated as directives but as advice to the Uttar Pradesh government.

The High Court had observed that the entire medical system in villages and small cities of Uttar Pradesh is at God's mercy (Ram bharose) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the UP government, the observation made by the HC demoralises the health workers and may create panic among people.

SC said that these observations might have been made in anxiety and concern.

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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for UP told the court that there were directions for medical companies as well to start producing vaccines by taking the formula which can not be implemented.

The top court observed that it appreciates the efforts of the High Courts in examining a case in-depth but it should consider the prospect of implementation also.

"We have balanced the order. We do not want to demoralise the HC and the state government too," said the court.

Senior Advocate Tushar Mehta, in his capacity as a Solicitor General, also sought directions to place covid-19 matters only before the Chief Justices of the High Courts to which the apex court refused to order and pulled him up saying that government became active only after the various HCs passed orders.

Read:|COVID-19: Allahabad HC directs UP govt to consider imposing lockdown in most-affected districts