NEW DELHI, Apr 27: After the Election Commission of India, it was the turn of the Delhi state government to receive flak from the court.
The Madras High Court had on Monday strongly criticized the ECI for allowing restriction-free election rallies and held the institution “singularly responsible” for the uncontrollable second wave of the pandemic in the country.
On Tuesday, the Delhi high court asked the Delhi government to take over an oxygen refilling plant with immediate effect and warned it that if it failed to address the current situation effectively the court would ask the officers of the central government to take over.
The High court also served contempt notices to five other oxygen refillers and told the government to “Set your house in order. Enough is enough. If you are not able to manage then tell us we will ask the Centre to send its officers. We will ask them to take over,” the court said.
The Delhi high court told the Delhi government that its system has collapsed and strict measures should be taken to ensure that medical oxygen which comes at a minimal cost should not cost several thousand or lakhs of rupees due to black marketing or hoarding.
The court expressed its displeasure over oxygen refillers as well who were not present at the proceedings, while also expressing its displeasure towards the Delhi government for not issuing proper instructions to oxygen refillers.
“We will ask you to take action against the refillers and issue a contempt notice because they did not appear even after they were called… This cylinder business is a mess. You have to look into it and put your house in order. If they are belligerent, then they will see our belligerence. Keep them in custody if they are playing with people’s life like this,” it said.
The court also ordered the Delhi government to send its officers to the oxygen plants and take over the running of those plants if required. “Post your officer (over there) and let them run it. You have all the power in law to take them in custody,” it said.
A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli while hearing a plea made by hospitals regarding the shortage of oxygen and drugs like Remdesivir said the Delhi government was not able to deal with the rising cases. “Your system has failed. Black-marketing of oxygen still continues. How are people procuring oxygen? Large-scale hoarding is going and you are not taking action. Take action against them,” the court told the Delhi government.
Amid the proceedings, Venkateshwara Hospital and Maharaja Agrasen Hospital said their oxygen reserves will not last for long and would put the lives of patients in peril.
“This is a huge surge in cases. You are not able to deal with the numbers,” the court observed.
The Delhi high court’s sharp criticism comes after several hospitals reported that they were facing an oxygen shortage. The national capital has seen a large number of deaths due to lack of oxygen due to which several hospitals moved the Delhi high court.
