Holding the pay of medical staff to be criminalized

The court heard the petition of a doctor who said that medical staff were not being paid in several regions and found it difficult to isolate themselves which could risk their families to be infected.

The Union government is, therefore, planning to criminalize the action of withholding salaries of doctors and nurses fighting the COVID-19 battle and has issued guidelines making it mandatory for the states to provide adequate quarantine and isolation facilities for the medical professionals, as per the Supreme Court order on Wednesday.

The bench, comprising Justices SK Kaul and MR Shah, directed the Centre to release the order by Thursday: “This is a kind of war. You cannot keep soldiers unhappy during a war.”

Update by Anamkia Singh