India laws to fight against epidemic in India.

1. Covid 19 in India
&
Epidemic
Diseases
Act of 1897
BY
ANJALI Dixit
Assistantprofessor
FACULTYOF JURIDICAL
SCIENCES
RAMAUNIVERSITY,KANPUR

2. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
Many states in India have been
invoking an old legal instrument in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic: the
Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897, a two-page
law that has remained largely unchanged
for its 123 years of existence.

3. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
Historical Background
The 1896 bubonic plague epidemic of Bombay
(now Mumbai), which began in September that
year and gradually spread to most parts of the
subcontinent, is a well-known major event from
colonial India.
As has been the case with epidemics, panic and
scapegoating formed a major part of the societal
response, and extreme measures dominated the
administrative response.

4. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
On January 19, 1897, about four months after
the plague was identified in Bombay, Queen
Victoria delivered a speech to both houses of the
British Parliament, and in which she said she had
“directed [her] Government to take the most
stringent measures at their disposal for the
eradication of the pestilence.”
The Epidemic Diseases Act is the avatar these
stringent measures eventually took.

5. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
A week after Victoria’s address, the Epidemic Diseases
Bill was introduced in the Council of the Governor-
General of India in Calcutta (now Kolkata) for the
“better prevention of the spread of dangerous
epidemic diseases.”
The member who introduced it, John Woodburn,
recognised that the powers mentioned in the Bill
were extraordinary but necessary, especially that the
people must “trust the discretion of the executive in
grave and critical circumstances.”

6. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
About the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897
Preamble
The preamble to the 1897 Epidemic Diseases
Act states that its objective is to provide for
better prevention of the spread of dangerous
epidemic diseases.

7. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
The Epidemic Diseases Act is one of the
shortest Acts in India, comprising just four
sections.
Section 1: - The first section explains the
title and the extent.
Section 2: - The second gives powers to the
state and Central governments to take
special measures and formulate regulations
that are to be observed by the people to
contain the spread of disease.

8. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
Section 3: - The third section describes
penalties for violating the regulations, in
accordance with Section 188 of the
Indian Penal Code.
Section 4: - The fourth deals with legal
protection to the implementing officers
acting under the Act .

9. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
Powers of the government
Section 2
“When the state government is satisfied that the state or any part
thereof is visited by or threatened with an outbreak of any
dangerous epidemic disease; and if it thinks that the ordinary
provisions of the law are insufficient for the purpose, then the
state may take, or require or empower any person to take some
measures and by public notice prescribe such temporary
regulations to be observed by the public. The state government
may prescribe regulations for inspection of persons travelling by
railway or otherwise, and the segregation, in hospital, temporary
accommodation or otherwise, of persons suspected by the
inspecting officer of being infected with any such disease.”

10. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
Section 2A
This Section empowers the Central
government to inspect any ship leaving or
arriving at any port and for detention
thereof, or of any person intending to sail
therein, or arriving thereby.

11. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
Section 3
Punishment
“Six months’ imprisonment or 1,000
rupees fine or both could be charged out
to the person who disobeys this Act”

12. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
Public health legislation to combat
communicable diseases in India
Indian Penal Code, 1860
The Livestock Importation Act, 1898,
Indian Ports Act of 1908,
Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940, and
Aircraft Rules of 1954 (15)

13. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
State initiatives for public health legislations
Many states formulated their own public
health laws and many amended the
provisions of their epidemic disease Acts.
The Madras Public Health Act was
passed in 1939. This was the first of its
kind in the country.

14. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
The government of Himachal Pradesh
included provisions for compulsory
vaccinations in its Epidemic Diseases Act,
while Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana
and Chandigarh conferred powers on
specific officials to execute various
provisions of the Act.
Bihar gave the state government the power
to make requests for vehicles during
epidemics.

15. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
Covid 19 & laws in India
Some critics have observed that the Epidemic Diseases
Act of 1897 “is a century-old blunt act” that needs a
“substantial overhaul to counter the rising burden of
infectious diseases both new and old.”
It appears that India’s National Centre for Disease Control
(NCDC) is developing a “Public Health Emergencies Act,”
which is “expected to take care of public health
emergency situations in the country arising as a result of
disasters and bio-terrorism incidents besides dangerous
epidemic diseases including newly emerging infectious
diseases.

16. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
A state government, by general or special
order, may empower a deputy
commissioner to exercise, in relation to
his district, all the powers under section 2
of the 1897 Act that are exercisable by
the state government in relation to the
state, other than to determine the manner
in which and by whom any expenses are
to be defrayed.

17. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
Many of these powers are prescribed in
Municipal Corporation Acts governing “major
municipal areas,” or Public Health Acts that also
provide municipal-level commissioners or
collectors with quarantine or other powers,
including the following:
1. Removal of a person to separate premises for
medical treatment: “Persons suffering from
such a disease may be removed to any hospital
or place for medical treatment, based on an
order from the Commissioner or the Collector.”

18. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
2. Cleansing or disinfecting any building or part of any
building or any articles: “The cleansing and disinfection of
any building or part of it or of any articles in such building
which are likely to retain infection, may be required to be
cleansed and disinfected based on an order of the
Commissioner or Collector to prevent or check the spread
of any dangerous disease.”
3. Taking special measures in case of the outbreak of
dangerous or epidemic diseases: “In case of an outbreak,
the Commissioner or Collector may take special measures
and by public notice, give directions to be observed by the
public or by any class or section of the public, as he thinks
necessary to prevent the spread of the disease.

19. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
Right to Privacy & Indian Judiciary
Powers of segregation or quarantine that the central
government and state governments enjoy may
impinge on the political and civil rights of the
public. Fundamental rights, as guaranteed by the
Constitution of India, are justiciable.
The judiciary does not shy away from enforcing
these rights or voiding orders that constitute
violations of such rights. Quarantine is a measure
that adversely affects the fundamental right “to move
freely throughout the territory of India.”(Art. 19 (1)(d)

20. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
India has invoked two laws, the Disaster Management
Act and the archaic Epidemic Diseases Act, to control
and mitigate the coronavirus outbreak.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has passed an order
invoking the Disaster Management Act, 2005 under
which the Union home secretary, who is the chairman
of the National Executive Committee, delegated
power to the Union health secretary to enhance the
preparedness and containment of COVID-19. Dated
11 March, the order has been implemented
retrospectively, and is in effect from 17 January.

21. THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897
There is a need to strengthen legal
frameworks to prevent and control the
entry, spread and existence of
communicable diseases in India.

22. Life is not merely being alive, but being well
THANKING YOU