High Court stays Telangana State ambulance order

Amaravati: The Telangana High Court on Friday stayed the circular issued by the Telangana government preventing the entry of ambulances from Andhra Pradesh and posted the next hearing on June 17. But the state police continued to stop the ambulances till late in the evening saying that they did not receive any instructions from the authorities. Finally, the TS police started to allow ambulances from 9 pm onwards.

The High Court expressed ire over the action of the Telangana government ignoring the High Court orders issued earlier in this regard. The High Court issued the stay orders over the petition filed by retired IRS official GV Krishna Rao.

The court stated that under Article 21 everyone has a right to save his life and the Telangana government has no right to stop the ambulances and directed the Telangana Advocate General to see that the orders were implemented immediately. As both the Central government and AP governments made as parties, AP Advocate General Sriram appeared before the High Court and argued on behalf of the AP government.

The arguments of the AP Advocate General include interstate movement is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution and thus such a restriction on travel is unconstitutional. The provisions referred to in the circular, the Epidemic Diseases Act and National Disaster Management Act 2005 does not allow a State to discriminate on the basis of residence of a patient. Such act would be unconstitutional, he said.

Medical infrastructure in the country irrespective of the State in which it is located is a national asset and the Supreme Court has directed that there should be seamless coordination between all the States. This is a circular issued to get over the judgement of the High Court on May 11, 2021 where the High Court directed the State not to restrict the movement of ambulances, he added.The TS Advocate General said the circular on decision to stop ambulances was sent to AP by mail on Thursday night and since morning they are stopping ambulances.