Uttar Pradesh: Panel to probe circumstances leading to HC Judge's death; 1-week deadline

In a major development, the Uttar Pradesh government set up a three-member committee to probe the circumstances leading to Justice VK Srivastava's death. A sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court, he passed away due to COVID-19 on April 28. The Yogi Adityanath-led government has asked the aforesaid panel to submit its report in a week's time. This step comes after the HC ordered the state government to form a committee to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the treatment administered to the late judge and submit the report before the court within two weeks.

HC raises questions over treatment accorded to judge

On May 4, a division bench of Justices Ajit Kumar and Siddhartha Varma raised questions about the treatment given to their late colleague Justice VK Srivastava. It was hearing a plea on the inhuman conditions at quarantine centers and providing better treatment to COVID-19 patients. The bench directed Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal to file an affidavit on why he was taken to the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences on the morning of April 23 itself instead of waiting till evening when his condition deteriorated. At present, there are 1,93,815 active novel coronavirus cases in Uttar Pradesh while 13,85,855 patients have recovered and 16,957 deaths have been reported. 

In its order, the court observed, "We have been informed that late Justice V.K. Srivastava, was admitted initially in the morning of 23rd April, 2021 in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lucknow but he was not taken care of till evening and it was only around 7:30 pm when his condition deteriorated, he was placed on ventilator. It was in the same night he was shifted to Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, where he was in ICU for five days and ultimately succumbed to the Covid- 19 infection. 13. Sri Manish Goyal is directed to file an affidavit bringing on record the treatment given to late Justice V.K. Srivastava at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and it will also be explained why he was not taken immediately to Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, immediately in the morning on 23rd April, 2021."