The Centre informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that its guidelines do not contain any instructions regarding affixing posters and signages outside the homes of Covid-19 patients and there cannot be any stigma attached to it.
The Government said this before a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan which reserved order on a plea seeking directions to do away with the practice of pasting posters outside the homes of those infected by coronavirus.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta referred to the affidavit filed in the apex court by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and told the bench, also comprising Justices R S Reddy and M R Shah, that the guidelines do not require any such affixation of posters.
“The Central government guidelines do not require this,” he said, adding, “There cannot be any stigmatic impact”.
The bench asked Mehta whether the Centre can issue an advisory that this should not be done.
To this, Mehta said the central government has already done this.
“We will close it. Heard. Judgement reserved,” the bench said.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner told the bench that there are no such instructions in the guidelines to affix posters outside the home of those found COVID positive but the “reality is very different”.
“Posters are also affixed with names of COVID positive patients on it,” the counsel said.