Mumbai, May 20: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday ordered the Maharashtra government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to file a response on a plea claiming that private hospitals are not admitting coronavirus patients. The petition was filed by Sarika Singh in which she also mentioned that private hospitals are charging huge amount of money for treatment of patients during the lockdown. India Sees Sharpest Spike of 5,611 Coronavirus Cases in Past 24 Hours; COVID-19 Tally Jumps to 1,06,750, Death Toll Reaches 3,033.

The Bombay HC directed the state government and the BMC to file their response by Friday. A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sambhaji Shinde heard the petition through video conferencing. In the Plea, Singh also mentioned that COVID-19 test reports issued by private hospitals are not accepted by the BMC. The civic body asks patients to undergo testing again. COVID-19: No Transmission Via Dead Bodies, BMC Tells Bombay HC.

The bench also noted that the presence of the Municipal Commissioner would be beneficial adjudication such issues. The court directed the petitioner to add the BMC commissioner as a party to the case. The hearing was scheduled on May 22. Advocate Purnima H Kantharia and advocate Yamuna Parekh represented the Maharashtra government and the BMC respectively.

Maharashtra is the worst-hit state. In this western state of India, 37,136 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The death toll in Maharashtra also mounted to 1,325. In Maharashtra’s capital Mumbai alone, the number of coronavirus cases have crossed 22,000-mark. In the maximum city, 800 people lost their lives due to coronavirus.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 20, 2020 12:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).