A Public Interest Litigation was filed by two residents seeking directions from the Karnataka High Court to the authorities to shift or shut down Covid-19 testing laboratory present and functioning in their locality. The matter was heard by CJ, J. Abhay Oka and J. Nagaprasanna, who dismissed the petition as the Writ of Mandamus cannot be issued against a private agency which is not even remotely connected to the State Government. The division bench further observed that the Petitioner failed to point out a statutory provision which could enable the High Court to impose a ban on setting up of a laboratory for collecting of samples of Covid-19 in a residential society and since there exited no such provision, the High Court could not direct the Government to withdraw the private agency or firm’s license, if any granted by the State Government.

The Petitioner’s counsel argued that the long queue of Covid-19 patients outside the laboratory inside the society posed a threat to the residents of the society and would spread the virus while the nation is fighting hard to keep in control. The Counsel also submitted that the medical staff who collected the samples was not wearing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kit which thus increased the risk of spreading the virus.

The Court responded to these submission by saying that Covid-19 wouldn’t just spread if people stood in  queue and that the lab must be somewhere, if not this society then in some other society. The Court observed that Petitioner had selfish intentions. The Court said that if this approach was adopted by everyone then the Courts would be shut too as 13 members of the Court staff had tested positive which would not be feasible. The Court granted the Petitioner the liberty to make representation to the district health officer and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahnagar Palike (BBMP) in regards to the staff not taking necessary precautions while taking the samples.