News:Cabinet Secretary has advised all states and Union Territories should invoke provisions of Section 2 of Epidemic Diseases Act,1897 so that Health Ministry advisories are enforceable.
Facts:
About Epidemic Disease Act:
- Epidemic Diseases Act,1897 aims to provide for the better prevention of the spread of dangerous epidemic diseases.
- The Act was introduced by the British in 1897 to tackle the epidemic of bubonic plague that broke out in the then state of Bombay.
Key Provisions of the Act:
- Section 2: It empowers state governments/UTs to take special measures and formulate regulations for containing the outbreak.
- Section 2A: It empowers the central government to take steps to prevent the spread of an epidemic.
- Section 3: Any person disobeying any regulation or order made under this Act shall be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.
- Section 4: It gives legal protection to the implementing officers acting under the Act.
