New Delhi, May 7 (PTI) In view of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, the Bar Council of India on Friday wrote to the Chief Justice of India N V Ramana seeking a direction to the government to provide sufficient COVID-19 beds and treatment facilities to the advocates and judges.

The letter addressed to the CJI and and other Supreme Court judges also sought a direction to the Centre and the state governments for the appointment of nodal officers for extending medical assistance.

In the letter, the apex bar body stated that advocates and judges “do not want special treatment“, but a “graceful response from the concerned official machinery, so that there is some mitigation in the miseries.”

“Thousands of advocates and their family members and staff have already, and many continue to be in the grip of the deadly pandemic, but there is none to respond to their sufferings and attend their calls,” the letter stated.

The letter, also forwarded to the Solicitor General of India, central and state governments, lamented that the country has lost many eminent and brilliant advocates and judges in the last few weeks.

BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra sought a direction to the government to provide sufficient beds and other COVID-19 treatment facilities to the advocates, judges, their staff and families who are in need at District and Taluka level and High Courts.

The bar body also requested for a direction to appoint the district judges or any officer not below the rank of Additional District Judge, as the 'nodal officer for every district to deal with the matters relating to advocates, Judicial officers, their families and staff in the need of medical facilities.

Besides, for advocates practicing in the high courts, the designated nodal officer may be either the Registrar General or some other similarly ranked officer of the high court, the letter added.

“For the advocates practicing in the Supreme Court, the Registrar General (Admin) or any other officer of equivalent rank may be designated as the nodal officer for the purpose,” the BCI stated.

It added that more than one such nodal officer can be designated for the purpose by the Supreme Court and high courts in case any nodal officer is overburdened with work.

The council further requested the top court to issue a direction to the state governments and district administration to provide oxygen cylinders and ensure the oxygen supply for any advocate, judicial officers, their family or staff.

“If any advocate, his family or staff or any judicial officer, his family or court staff is in need of an oxygen bed or ICU bed or there is requirement of a prescribed life saving treatment, he should be provided with it immediately on the recommendation of the concerned nodal officer,” the letter read.

The statutory body further apprised the CJI that in district and taluka, there are neither sufficient ambulances nor oxygen beds in the hospitals.

The council asserted that most of the petitions in this regard are dealing with the cases of bigger cities, and not considering the precarious conditions prevailing at remote places and the harrowing conditions of the advocates and their families.

“Ventilators are like a dream for the states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal etc.,” the petition said.

The council requested the apex court to treat the letter as a separate PIL and list it urgently and allow the prayers made in this letter.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)