The High Court of Madhya Pradesh severely reprimanded a Petitioner who sought the directions from the HC to quash the order of the Government which prevented the disclosure of identity of Covid-19 positive patients. The PIL was filed by Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch. The Court clearly held that what the petition seeks stands in complete contrast to the matter of public interest as the issuing of the Covid-19 affected patients exposes them to many challenges and hardships in the society. The bench stated:
"We do not perceive any merit in the Public Interest Litigation filed by the petitioner. On the contrary the relief sought by the petitioner runs contrary to the public interest. Being not a public interest litigation, we are inclined to dismiss the writ petition with the cost of Rs.25,000/-."
The bench of Justices Sanjay Yadav and Vishal Dhagat saw that the order in question of the MP Government dated May 19, 2020, which was based upon the advisory guidelines issued by the Central Government, had been given in public interest. They observed as follows:
"The Advisory as well as the Order issued by the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh are in larger public interest to prevent any chaos in the society and also to prevent the person whose test Covid 19 results positive from the public wrath."
Be that as it may, as the petitioner implored the court to permit him to pull back the request, the Court excused the appeal as already withdrawn. A month ago, the Madras High Court had excused a comparable request looking to disclose the personalities of the COVID-19 influenced people, for successful contact tracing, expressing that "there would certainly be a social disgrace and defamations by virtue of the equivalent." The Orissa High Court has additionally, as an interval measure, guided the state specialists to save the characters of Covid-19 patients/suspects, and guarantee that the equivalents are not uncovered either to the media or during between departmental correspondences.