In a big reprieve to the Telangana government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday has issued an interim order staying the Telangana High Court’s order to test all the patients who died of Covid-19. The apex court said that the order by the Telangana HC was ‘premature.’

The Telangana government had stopped testing the dead bodies for COVID-19 from May 20. A petition was filed against the Telangana government in this regard. Hearing the petition, the High Court on May 26 had ordered the KCR government to conduct corona tests on the dead before discharging them from the hospitals in the state, but the Telangana government contended that it would be difficult to implement the HC order to conduct COVID-19 tests on the all those who succumbed to the virus. Later, the Telangana government had challenged the HC order in the Supreme Court.

Hearing the case on Wednesday, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice J Ashok Bhushan observed that the HC order was premature and directions for testing of all dead bodies as given by Telangana HC was stayed.

Earlier, the HC took serious note of the Telangana government not heeding to its directive. The HC also warned that it will be forced to initiate contempt proceedings for the Telangana government’s failure to follow previous orders on the supply of protective equipment to health workers and Covid-19 tests.