Following various complaints from doctors, paramedical staff, healthcare personnel who were asked to vacate their rented residences in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, the Delhi Government today allowed District Magistrates and Zonal Officers to take ‘strict penal action’ against such impish landlords.
“Such behavior not only strikes at the root of a fight against the COVID-19 pandemic but also tantamount to obstruction in discharging duties of the public servants” stated the order issued by the Delhi administration, vide dated 24 March. Also, the order has directed the concerned authorities to submit daily action taken reports in this regard to the Additional Chief Secretary to Government Home Ministry.
“All District Magistrates, Zonal Deputy Commissioners of Municipal Corporations, Deputy Commissioners of Police are directed to take strict “penal” action against violators and also submit an ‘Action Taken’ report to the office of Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi,” reads the order.
Delhi Government has issued an order directing the authorities to take strict penal actions against impish landlords, who are forcing medical staff to vacate their rented accommodations, in light of the threat to coronavirus spread.#coronavirusindia #Medicalstaff #landlords pic.twitter.com/ikKiQtDcIj
— B&B Associates LLP (@bnb_legal) March 25, 2020
The order was issued, a day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that he was deeply hurt by the news of harassment of health care officials across the city.
Earlier, on Tuesday, resident doctors’ association of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) sought for government’s intervention on the matter, stating that their colleagues were facing harassment from their landlords, who fear medical professionals at the forefront of the fight against the COVID-19 virus could be infected and spreading the pathogen into their premises.
“Many staffers were “stranded on roads” with all their luggage” stated a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah by resident doctors’ association and urged him to immediately release an order, prohibiting landlords from evicting health care professionals.
As per sources, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday spoke to the Delhi Police Chief S N Shrivastava and directed him to ensure the security of medical staff in the wake of complaints of harassment against them by the landlords of their rented accommodations.
Subsequently, the Delhi Government invoked the Delhi Epidemics Diseases, Covid-19 Regulations, and said district magistrates, zonal deputy commissioners of municipal corporations and the deputy commissioner of police are “directed to take strict penal action against such landlords and house owners under the relevant provisions of law”.
Meanwhile, the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has on 24 March, condemned the ostracism of doctors and paramedics from residential colonies and expressed that he is “deeply anguished” by the news. He recalled the landlords that in these crucial times, the entire world had celebrated the selfless work of healthcare professionals by beating utensils, ringing bells and blowing self-quarantine conch shells.
On the other hand, Crew members of Air India and IndiGo have also reported similar circumstances wherein their employees were facing a tough time in their respective hometowns for their “line of duty and travel history” amid the coronavirus outbreak.
