On Saturday, the Delhi High Court warned the Central government of launching contempt actions against its officers for their failure to fulfil the 490 metric tonnes of oxygen allocated for Delhi even for a single day.
A bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rekha Palli stated, “pertinently, the allocation to Delhi, which was earlier of 480 MT (since April 20, 2021), and now is of 490 MT has not been fulfilled even for a single day”.
“In case, this order is not implemented, the concerned officers of the Central Government viz. Mr. Piyush Goyal and Ms Sunita Dawra shall remain present during the hearing on May 3,” the high court ordered.
“Looking to the situation, we make it clear that we may even consider initiating Contempt Proceedings in case of non-compliance,” the high court warned.
The High Court gave the regulation after getting a serious view of a statement made by Dr S. Bankata, Executive Director of Batra Hospital that there was a delay in supply of Oxygen due to which, Oxygen supply was discontinued for about an hour and a half, which has led to the loss of 12 lives, including a doctor of the hospital.
Elder advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the Delhi government, notified the court at 03:05 p.m. that he has got an SOS message from Mr Bidhuri, who is the officer entitled with the job of guaranteeing supply to hospitals in Delhi, that the resources of Delhi are wearied.
On Saturday, Mr Mehra said there is no supply or least supply from the plants of Linde and Air Liquide. Mr Mehra showed serious attention as to how the Capital would tide over the shortage on Saturday, as a lot of hospitals and nursing homes have run out of medical Oxygen, or would do so in the coming few hours.
“We direct the Central Government to ensure that NCT of Delhi receives its allocated supply of 490 MT positively today, by whatever means,” the high court ordered firmly.
At the time of the hearing, the high court also observed that Delhi is not an industrial state, and does not have availability of cryogenic tankers of its own which could be requisitioned under the Disaster Management Act — as other states have done.
“It falls upon the Central Government to arrange the tankers as well, so that the allocation made to Delhi could be fulfilled, lest it remains only a paper allocation,” the high court said.
“The Central Government shall ensure availability of cryogenic tankers as well for the said supply,” the high court added posting the case for further hearing on May 3.
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