IMPACT OF COVID19 ON INDIAN LEGAL STRUCTURE

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Syed Qasim Ali 

LL.M 

Academician And Lawyer, Bareilly

ABSTRACT 

Law and society are related to each other. Law develops as the society changes. According to Montesquieu (the originator of historical school)ilaws are the creation of climate, local situations, accidents, happenings etc. Law evolves in a particular society along with evolution of society. It is from here the essential connection between law and society was found. The same concept was reiterated by Herbert Spencer (follower of sociological school) that the iilaw and society are mutually interlinked one cannot be understood without understanding the other. Contrary to it, analytical school which is famous for its positivism and imperative approach, and negates the societal aspect in law. Jeremy Bentham, a jurist of analytical school hammered his thoughts for link between law and society. According to Bentham iiipurpose of law is to serve benefit of individual, and since the individual interest and societal interest are not different, thus serving the individual interest would automatically serve the societal interest. In addition to the above theories a new angle was propounded by HLA Hart (follower of Analytical school), but due to his peculiar approach he was regarded as analytical naturalist. ivAccording to him survival of individuals in the society is prime concern, and an individual knows that such a harmonious survival would not be possible unless some basic elements of morality are followed. HLA Hart advocated vthe existence of a minimum content of morality (Human Reasoning) and natural law in legal systems, in order to prevent the society from suicide bomb. Keeping the aforesaid theories in mind, we will learn how COVID-19 changed the Indian legal Structure so far. A virus outbreak whose epicenter was Wuhan, China started in December 2019 and within a span of 3 months the virus injected its deep roots throughout the globe taking thousands of life, infecting millions, dispersing the trade & transportation via road, rail and air, deflating the economies, cancellation of various National and International events in sports, culture and conducting government summits and court trials through video conferencing and many more. viWorld Health Organization declared this outbreak as a “public health emergency of International concern” on 30th January 2020, and “Pandemic” on 11th February 2020. According to Constitution of India viiArticle 246 the Public Order and Public Health and sanitation; hospitals and dispensaries are embodied in the State list of Schedule VII under entries 1 and 6 respectively. Entry no.23 of concurrent list deals with Social security and social insurance; employment and unemployment. Thus, the State found its recourse to various provisions of The Disaster Management Act), 2005 (hereinafter DM) and The Epidemic diseases Act, 1897 (hereinafter EDA) to fight against the outbreak of corona virus.