Health department officials can't use beacon lights atop cars: Madras HC
Madras high court has rejected a plea to include the officers of the public health department in the list of dignitaries.
Chennai: The Madras high court has rejected a plea to include the officers of the public health department in the list of dignitaries permitted to use the blue beacon light with flasher atop their cars. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R.Mahadevan dismissed a public interest litigation filed by Dr G.R. Ravindranath, general secretary, Doctors' Association for Social Equality. "We are not inclined to entertain the PIL for inclusion of further categories in GO dated November 15, 2014, though we make it clear that this order will not preclude the representation of the petitioner already made being examined by authorities", the bench added.
According to petitioner, the officers of public health department were carrying out and supervising the emergency life-saving duties round in the clock in the state level and district level. The health department was doing emergency life saving duty to protect people from epidemic diseases like cholera, dengue, swine flu, Mers-Covi, yellow fever virus and other deadly virus and also from flood, earthquake and natural calamities. The department was directly connected with life of people. In recent historical flood in Chennai, during post tsunami also the department had prevented disease, outbreaks and deaths by taking emergency preventive measures and ensuring there was no major outbreak of diseases in the flood affected districts.
The officers of the health department have to reach the affected area from the state level and district level for taking preventive emergency measures to prevent the disease outbreak and deaths accruing by the natural calamities and post disasters. Therefore, the vehicles carrying the officers also require an unhindered access to the roads for performing the life saving duty. Hence, the officers shall also be included in the GO, which contains the dignitaries eligible to use blue beacon light with flasher atop their cars. He sent a representation to authorities But, there was no response, he added.