PIL Filed in Karnataka HC Against Pharma Company Alleging Negligence as Employees Test Positive

A public interest litigation has been filed in the Karnataka High Court against a pharma company after employees of the company's plant in Mysore district tested positive for Covid-19. As of Thursday, at least 27 people have contracted the virus, including employees of Jubilant Generics Limited and their contacts, while none of them have a travel or contact history.

The first patient in the cluster (patient 52) tested positive on March 26, 2020 and is an employee of the company's plant in Nanjangud, Mysore. Following this, the company suspended its operations at the plant and more than a thousand employees have been in quarantine.

"The company has breached trust and has been negligent. Raw materials were imported from China that could have led to the spreading of the virus. While the employees may not have known about the pandemic, the management would have been aware," said Geetha Mishra, advocate for petitioner GR Mohan, a resident of Bengaluru.

A resident of Mandya district, who tested positive on Thursday, contracted the virus from a co-passenger, who was an employee of the company. The transmission reflects the extent of spread and contact tracing.

"There is pressure to resume operations of the company. That cannot be allowed until investigation is completed. The company has been negligent," said Harshavardhan, MLA of Nanjangud.

It has been suspected that the raw materials imported by the company from China could have been a source of the virus. Samples of the same have been sent for testing.

The company however refuted the allegation. "We have submitted CCTV footage, company records regarding leave, travel history and visitor details and material movement records to the authorities. All the raw materials imported from China sampled under the query has taken more than three weeks to reach the plant by sea route."

"Further, the query that raw material has come under cold chain is also not correct. Raw materials have all come under normal containers with no cold chain and thus facing high temperature. Storage area for the sampled raw material is also under normal temperature and not in cold conditions. It was above 32 degree celsius when authorities took samples. None of the raw materials from China come under cold chain or refrigerated container," said the company in a statement.