Silence of the law amid a national crisis

Context: There is an urgent need for a comprehensive lockdown code, if a complete or partial lockdown ever becomes an imperative again.

Need of a comprehensive Lockdown Code

• Abeyance with Rule of Law: 
• Governance through ad-hoc directions are the very antithesis of rule of law.
• Disaster Management Act, 2005, mandates formulation of policy and guidelines for ensuring timely and effective response to disaster.
• Avoid tragedies: tragic outcomes could have been avoided had there been a mandatory protocol in place for hospitals and industries to follow

The Code must include

• Lockdown Rights and Duties: Society must be aware in advance their duties and rights under such closures like:
• Employers regarding payment of minimum wage
• Landlords forbidding the eviction of tenants.
• Elderly living alone must know how their supplies will be guaranteed and by whom.
• NGOs or individuals regarding clearances. 
• Advance assurance of survival needs to those who live at subsistence levels
• Right to Dignity: 
• State must ensure that right to live with human dignity (Article 21) as it is the core which unites the fundamental rights (right-to-privacy case of Puttaswamy).

Way Forward:

• The neglect of individual rights by the State, or disproportionate intrusions into civil liberties by its agencies, or even undue deference to executive authority by courts, could danger the values of our Constitution so executive must now devise detailed rules for every lockdown.