Omkar Gokhale

The HC suggested that the state can consider taking measures, including imposing a complete lockdown for a limited period in districts reporting substantial rise in cases.

The Court refused to grant immediate interim protection to Deshmukh and said that he can approach the vacation bench with 48-hour notice to respondent CBI in case of extreme urgency.

Bhave (37), currently lodged at the Yerwada Central Jail in Pune, will be released after submitting a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and sureties.

However, the HC refused a prayer seeking registration of the FIR by the court itself.

The bench noted that the police have failed to show that the tweet led to disturbance of law and order or public order or peace and tranquility.

The state government had earlier said that the petitioner, with more than 20, 000 followers on Twitter, was a “professional tweeter” and “social media influencer” and was involved in “spreading misinformation” in “volatile situation” and therefore, her posts cannot be disregarded and the FIR against her was justified.

The HC bence said that while the state has made it compulsory for all to wear masks, there is no uniformity in the amount collected as fine for violating the norm.

The Maharashtra government recently moved the Bombay High Court seeking directions to set aside two “unnumbered paragraphs” from the corruption FIR registered by the CBI on April 21 against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh.

The court was told by the state government that Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Pandey has recused from the probes and therefore Singh's plea be rendered infructuous and non-maintainable.

The HC noted that trees were being felled indiscriminately and wood used for funeral pyres was being sold at exorbitant prices.

A division bench of Justice Sanjay V Gangapurwala and Justice Shrikant D Kulkarni was hearing a suo motu PIL initiated by the court in 2017 after noticing that MSRTC's scheme was “against public interest”.

The court said authorities implementing the scheme shall take all possible steps to make treatment available to all patients from weaker sections of society and they should not be deprived of healthcare facilities on financial grounds.

The Central agency also said that the report of the US-based consultancy was not part of the chargesheet filed against him and therefore can only be raised during trial.

The BMC said that an average daily consumption of remdesivir injection in BMC hospitals is 1,719 vials per day and therefore, a 7-day requirement was ascertained at about 12,033 vials.

“We will not tolerate any excuse about any CCTV footage being lost or loss of any details of the chartered/ private aircraft landings and take off,” the HC noted.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish S Kulkarni was hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) based on news reports highlighting alarming rise in Covid-19 cases in last two months in prisons across the state.

The HC also observed that the safety of patients was of paramount importance and it does not want hospitals turning into potential “Jatugrih/ Lakshagrih”

HC seeks Maharashtra's response on allegations

The plea by lawyer Fayzan Khan and others was moved on Wednesday before the High Court seeking directions to Covid vaccine-makers to sell doses at an uniform rate of Rs 150 per dose.

The HC issued notices to the respondents — the police and the complainant — to submit a reply to the IHFL plea by June 28, when it will hear the case next.

The petition sought directions to the central government to acquire the entire supply and control vaccine price.

Politicians from several parties, including those in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), sold or distributed the drug directly to people after procuring it from the manufacturer or by dipping into district stocks.

The court said that people wearing masks below the chin or exposing their mouth or nose are Covid-19 ‘super-spreaders’ and police can book them for offences of not wearing masks.

The bench said the police would take this into account and refrain from registering offences against members of the community during the relaxation period “only during Ramadan month”.