The Patna High Court on Friday pulled up the Bihar Government for not keeping deaths records due to the Covid-19 pandemic and stated that the State’s reluctance to put the number of fatalities on the public domain was “uncalled for” and was “not protected by any law”.
A division bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S Kumar said that the people of Bihar deserve to know how many people died because of the virus in the last one year.
The judges in the court order said, “Government of Bihar is under an obligation to the citizens of India, more so the residents of the State, to provide information on the digital portal the number of deaths, be it for whatever reason, that has occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The bench further said: “to cover with a veil of secrecy the common routine business is not in the interest of the public. Such secrecy can seldom be legitimately desired”.
While passing the judgement, the HC ordered the state government to upload the number of deaths and births on its online portal under Digital India and National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy, 2012.
“In our considered view, the resistance [to publish records of deaths and births] is uncalled for, as such action is neither protected by any law nor in consonance with settled principles of good governance. The government, while correcting its myopic approach only needs a reminder that to cover with the veil of secrecy the common routine business is not in the interest of the public,” on Friday the court stated while hearing a suo motu PIL on COVID-19 management in the state.
Noting that the Bihar government, despite numerous assurances, did not regularly upload data on births and deaths on its online portal as made mandatory by law. “Transparency is the hallmark of good governance, more so in today’s era, especially when the government, both Central and the State, are committed to making a success the flagship ‘Digital India’ programme and the ‘National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy 2012,” the court further added.
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The bench said, “We see no reason as to why such information of deaths, COVID and non-COVID, is not regularly uploaded and made known to the general public.”
It is to be noted that since 2018 there has been no annual report uploaded on the digital portal of the Bihar government.
The observations by the Patna High Court comes after the Bihar state has been blamed for underreporting deaths due to Covid in the state.
Earlier, an updated death toll figures by the Bihar government showed 72% more fatalities that sparked outrage over flaws in maintaining death figures in the state.
The elected public representatives have also been told to obtain the correct number of deaths in their respective constituencies within 24 hours.
It said: “Elected representatives upon whom an obligation has been placed, are duty-bound to disclose the number of deaths that occurred in their constituencies within 24 hours.”
The bench also ordered the government to process and update the number of deaths and births in two months.
Citing the law of the land, the court observed, “The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 and also the Right to Information Act, 2005 give rights to a person in almost unequivocal terms of their access to information and, therefore, the digital portals should be made accessible to the general public with regular and timely updates.”
On June 7, the Bihar government had recorded 5,424 Covid deaths whereas the death toll jumped to 9,375 on June 8. However, it was not defined when these additional deaths had occurred, although a split was provided for all 38 districts in the state.
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After revising the fatality toll, the Patna HC had raised concerns over the state government's counter-affidavit and decided to hear on the matter in detail in the court, while directing it to submit a report explaining the sources from where it revised the death toll figure.