In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the cabinet secretary said on March 11 that all states and Union Territories should invoke provisions of Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, by means of which all advisories issued by the Union health ministry and state governments from time to time are enforceable.

The decision was taken at a meeting organised in New Delhi by the cabinet secretary. It was attended by secretaries of departments concerned, representatives from the Army, ITBP, among others.

“It was decided that all states / UTs should be advised by the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) to invoke provisions of Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, so that all advisories being issued from time to time by the Union ministry / states / UTs are enforceable,” the ministry said in a statement.

Epidemic Diseases Act

The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, is the main legislative framework at the central level for the prevention and spread of dangerous epidemic diseases. The Act empowers the central government to take necessary measures to deal with dangerous epidemic disease at ports of entry and exit.

There are four sections in the Act.

Section 2 deals with the power of states to take special measures and prescribe regulations as to dangerous epidemic disease.

“When at any time the state government is satisfied that the state or any part thereof is visited by, or threatened with, an outbreak of any dangerous epidemic disease, the government thinks that the ordinary provisions of the law for the time being in force are insufficient for the purpose, may take, or require or empower any person to take, such measures and, by public notice, prescribe such temporary regulations to be observed by the public as it shall deem necessary to prevent the outbreak of such disease or the spread thereof,” it stated.

The state government may take measures and prescribe regulations for the inspection of persons travelling by railway or otherwise, and the segregation, in hospital, temporary accommodation or otherwise, of persons suspected by the inspecting officer of being infected with any such disease.

Section 2A deals with the central government’s powers to tackle the spread of epidemics.

“When the central government is satisfied that India or any part thereof is visited by, or threatened with, an outbreak of any dangerous epidemic disease and that the ordinary provisions of the law for the time being in force are insufficient to prevent the outbreak of such disease or the spread thereof, the central government may take measures and prescribe regulations for the inspection of any ship or vessel leaving or arriving at any port in the territories to which this Act extends and for such detention thereof, or of any person intending to sail therein, or arriving thereby, as may be necessary,” it stated.

A research paper in the 2016 edition of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics noted that the Epidemic Diseases Act has major limitations in the current scenario “as it is outdated, merely regulatory and not rights-based, and lacks a focus on people”.

The paper by P.S. Rakesh, assistant professor, department of community medicine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, noted the Act failed to cover greater migration within states, transition from agrarian to industrial societies, increased urbanisation, increasing intensity of contact with animals and birds and man-made ecological changes.

The Epidemic Diseases Act was passed in 1897 with the aim of better preventing the spread of “dangerous epidemic diseases”. It evolved to tackle the epidemic of bubonic plague that broke out in Maharashtra at the time. The Governor General of colonial India conferred special powers upon the local authorities to implement the measures necessary for the control of epidemics.

The Epidemic Diseases Act needs modifications in the changing scenario. For example, it is too oriented towards travel by ship and silent on air travel, which was uncommon at that time. The epidemiological concepts used in relation to the prevention and control of epidemic diseases have also changed over time. The Epidemic Diseases Act is not in line with the contemporary scientific understanding of outbreak prevention and response, but only reflects the scientific and legal standards that prevailed at the time when it was framed, the paper said.

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