The obligation of the State to provide adequate maternal healthcare is fundamental under Art.21 of the Constitution.

1. This writ petition is instituted as a Public Interest Litigation by a woman of Gaurela Block in District Bilaspur, who allegedly lost her daughter due to the poor health facilities and mismanagement of the situations that followed her admission to the Community Health Centre, Gaurela; for short, ' CHC' , for delivery. The Petitioner does not seek any order personally in her favour. Therefore, we leave open all issues relatable to the pleadings made by her regarding the personal loss of the Petitioner and the surviving children of the deceased, as well as the alleged refusal of the Government to compensate.

2. Petitioner pleads that World Health Organisation has defined ' maternal death' as ' the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.' She points out that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the Government of India had reported Chhattisgarh Maternal Mortality Ratio; for short, ' MMR' , at a very high level and Bilaspur district as having one of the highest MMRs in the State and in India. In public interest, the Petitioner seeks a direction to the Respondents to fill the post of Anesthetist and Gynecologist trained in Emergency Obstetric Care in the CHC and to establish a blood storage facility in that CHC. She also seeks a direction to provide Sonography diagnostic facilities and to ensure that Caesarean section deliveries are conducted in the CHC. She seeks a further direction for supply of free medicine in the CHC and to ensure that corrective measures be taken in the sector of management of maternal mortality. She also seeks a direction that the findings of maternal death audits and the corrective measures in the maternal deaths which occurred in the year 2013 - 2014 be uploaded on the website.

3. Respondent Nos. 2 to 5 (State of Chhattisgarh) have placed pleadings in the matter. Since, the Petitioner is not claiming any personal relief on account of death of her daughter, as already noted, we exclude the pleadings of the Respondents in that regard from consideration in this writ petition and leave open all such issues.

4. The Respondents, in their return dated 20.06.2017, have stated that budget allocation was made for construction of 50 bedded clinic / Maternal Child Health; for short ' MCH - , wing at Gaurela CHC. It is submitted that the construction of buildings are now complete and the buildings have already been handed over to Health Department. A copy of the letter dated 20.06.2012 along with chart showing the sanction is placed on record by the Respondents as Annexure - R / 1. It is also submitted that budget has already been sanctioned for purchasing necessary medical equipments for installing at MCH wings of CHC, as per order dated 08.11.2016. However, in the said return dated 20.06.2017, it is submitted that the State Government is in the process of sanctioning the setup and deputing the staff there and 50 bedded Maternal Child Health wing of the Gaurela CHC will come into operation at the earliest. This plea necessarily shows that the question of deployment of staff to the 50 bedded CHC was yet to be finalized even in June, 2017. However, the Respondents, going by the return, are aware of the fact that the State is duty bound to provide the necessary and basic medical facilities to the people having regard to the concept of ' welfare State - . The submission of the Resp