LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government was yet again cornered on the recent tragedy in Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College as both Allahabad High Court and its Lucknow Bench on Friday directed the Centre and state authorities to file their respective replies to bunch of PILs seeking judicial probe into the death of over 60 children between August 9 and 12.
While Allahabad High Court bench headed by Chief Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma set the issue for next hearing on August 29, its Lucknow Bench awarded six weeks’ time to the authorities to file replies until October 9, 2017.
Commencing the argument over the PILs filed in Allahabad, the petitioners alleged that the children died at BRD Medical College due to sheer allousness of the doctors.
They also raised the issue of encephalitis being a menace which claimed scores of lives every year in eastern UP, but no concrete step had been taken by the respective government to curb it. It also delved into the non-availability of life-saving drugs and the poor health systems at community and primary level in the region.
Meanwhile, the Lucknow bench passed the order after day’s hearing on a PIL moved by social activist Nutan Thakur directing the state government and Director General of Medical Education to file counter affidavit within six weeks.