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‘Prelude to complete autocracy’: Congress slams Centre for ‘prophets of doom’ statement in SC

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The Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala also questioned the transfer of the bench in the Gujarat High Court. 'No wonder the High Court Bench holding Gujarat Govt accountable for abdication of duty & turning the hospital into a 'dungeon' is suddenly changed. Can there be a greater 'travesty of justice'?' Surjewala said. (Image: Twitter/@rssurjewal)


The Congress party on Friday, questioned the Supreme Court’s silence over the transfer of the bench in the Gujarat High Court which held state government accountable for abdication of duty and alleged that the government is autocratic in its functioning, a day after Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta told the apex court that  “prophets of doom” in our country  are always sceptical about everything.

The division bench of the Gujarat High court which called the Ahmedabad hospital a “dungeon” and pointed out that poor and helpless patients had no option but to rely on it during this medical crisis, was rearranged on Thursday with the Chief Justice taking over as the lead judge.

Randeep Surjewala, Congress chief spokesperson took to Twitter and in a series of tweets said, “Modi Govt’s ‘New Definitions’ in SC – 1)’Some High Courts are running a parallel Govt’ 2) Those criticising the govt are ‘prophets of doom’ 3) Cites instance of a journalist as ‘vulture’.”

“A prelude to complete ‘Autocracy & Abdication of Constitution’!” added Surjewala in his tweet.

The Congress leader also questioned the transfer of the bench in the Gujarat High Court. “No wonder the High Court Bench holding Gujarat Govt accountable for abdication of duty & turning the hospital into a ‘dungeon’ is suddenly changed. Can there be a greater ‘travesty of justice’?” Surjewala said.

“Why is SC silent on such rank subversion of justice?” he asked.

The Solicitor General had told the apex court yesterday that the Centre is doing a lot to contain the Coronavirus outbreak, but there are “Prophets of Doom in our country who only spread negativity, negativity, negativity”.

“These armchair intellectuals do not recognise the nation’s efforts,” he added.

The Supreme Court had on Tuesday taken suo motu cognizance of problems faced by the migrant labourers who are stranded in different parts of the country due to the nationwide lockdown to contain the Coronavirus outbreak.

Another senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also lashed out on the SG and tweeted, “Sad but true. A law officer in the Supreme Court dealing with the plight of migrants epitomised by the images in the public domain said: Journalists are vultures and High Courts are running parallel governments. This is politics not law!”

Mehta submitted before a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah that these people have been squabbling on social media, have been giving interviews, and writing articles against every institution and have not even acknowledged the humongous efforts made by the government.

Mehta said this has become a trend and the court, as an institution, has to prevent its spread. He added that the trend is that a handful of people give “certificates” to judges of neutrality only if judges abuse the Executive.

He submitted that none of these “prophets of doom” have shown any courtesy to the nation during the pandemic. “The government and ministers are working overnight to see that there is the minimum spread of the virus. All these armchair intellectuals and so-called public spirited people have done nothing to contribute”, Mehta told the Supreme Court.

While pulling up the Civil hospital in Ahmedabad for its handling of COVID-19 cases, the Gujarat High Court on May 24 had said, “Human life is precious and cannot be wasted.”

Court further labelled the hospital a “dungeon” and pointed out that poor and helpless patients had no option but to rely on it during this medical crisis.

“As we said earlier that the Civil Hospital is meant to treat the patients. However, it appears that as on date, it is as good as a dungeon. Maybe even worst than a dungeon. Unfortunately, the poor and helpless patients have no option,” the order read.

According to the reports, over 350 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported from the hospital.

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