(TibetanReview.net, May18’20) – Like in numerous other countries, citizens of India are also seeking to sue China to demand compensation for financial and emotional suffering and loss inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic unleashed by it. A lawyers’ body is asking the government to make this possible by doing away with the law requiring government permission to do so.
“Every citizen of India has been affected from different angles. The affected persons wish to seek justice from the courts. One of the ways in which such accountability can be pinned is by judicial recourse for recovery of damages from the Chinese government,” a letter sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and signed by Dr Adish C Aggarwala, chairman of the All India Bar Association, was quoted as saying.
A foreign power can be sued in an Indian court. However, under the country’s Civil Procedure Code (CPC), this is possible only with the prior consent of the Central government. Dr Aggarwala is seeking the Prime Minister’s intervention to amend Section 86 of the CPC that makes it mandatory to get clearance of Delhi.
“Parliament is not in session, so the government can bring in an ordinance and make the changes in Section 86 of CPC,” the letter was stated to argue.
