Mumbai: The Bombay HC bench led by Justice Sunil Shukre on Saturday came down heavily on the Maharashtra government on delaying the procedure to import the essential Remdesivir drug from Bangladesh, Hong Kong and other countries, as proposed by the state earlier.
The bench also comprising of Justice Avinash Gharote while hearing a suo motu PIL on Covid crisis took note of a letter written by state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte to the cabinet secretary of Union government, asking for permission to import Remdesivir.
"This letter is so bad. It doesn't mention whether we (state) has already complied with the three mandatory procedures of obtaining requisite certificates. This isn't how a chief secretary writes a letter," Justice Shukre remarked.
"How can the chief secretary not mention all the details in his letter? With regret we say there is non-application of mind. And once you have the three requisite documents why do you need the permission, especially when the Union health ministry has already told you so," the judge questioned.
Expressing displeasure over the letter, Justice Gharote said, "This only shows the very sorry state of affairs in our state. You (state) are making big big statements only for the public."
The bench accordingly ordered Kunte to expeditiously obtain the three documents - Marketing permissions, registration certificate and importing licence - so that Remdesivir could be brought in from other countries at the earliest.
"Let us clarify, if you fail to import it as early as possible, you will be denying justice to the Covid patients and their families.
The matter will be next heard on Tuesday.