SC Takes Grim View of Centre’s Oxygen Supply Failures

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, May 7: The Supreme Court on Friday took a very grim view of the centre slipping back in meeting the promised supply of medical oxygen to Delhi hospitals and warned it of taking “coercive action” in the event of failure to comply with the court order.

The apex court also refused to interfere with the Karnataka High Court’s order asking the central government to increase the state’s daily quota of liquid medical oxygen from 965 MT to 1200 MT. The apex court rejected the Centre’s challenge against the High Court order, calling it a “well calibrated and judicious exercise of power.”

On the situation in Delhi, the court underlined the obligation of the Centre to comply with the order to supply 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi “every day,” saying “we mean business”.

A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah warned the Centre of forcing the court into taking “coercive action” against it by reneging on its assurance in court to supply 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi, which is battling a devastating second wave of the pandemic.

The court’s comments came after it went through a tabulated chart detailing the Centre’s “comprehensive plan” for the allocation, supply and distribution of oxygen to the national capital.

“You start by saying 700 MT and then as you go on, you bring caveats about containers coming in, etc… We are not container drivers here. We want 700 MT every day and we mean business,” Justice Chandrachud addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre.

Justice Chandrachud said he and Justice Shah had a discussion before the hearing on the issue and had agreed that the court in its previous orders intended that Delhi should get 700 MT every day.

“We did not mean that you supply 700 MT on one day. We meant you do it every day until we further examine the modalities. Please do not drive us to a situation where we have to be firm and take the coercive way. It is 700 MT every day, every single day,” Justice Chandrachud emphasised.

Mehta said he would convey the court’s observations to the authorities concerned during the day.

The Supreme Court on May 5 had ordered the Centre to prepare a “comprehensive plan” for the supply of 700 MT of life-saving oxygen to Delhi on a daily basis. The plan submitted by the Centre had to identify the sources of supply of oxygen to Delhi; the provisions for transport and logistical arrangements, including distribution points for oxygen. The court had noted that the lack of oxygen was causing “tremendous anxiety” in the capital.

On the centre’s petition challenging the Karnataka High Court’s order, the Chandrachud-Shah bench observed that the Karnataka High Court had examined the demand correctly. “We will not leave the citizens of Karnataka in the lurch,” the bench told Mehta.

The bench refused to accept the Centre’s argument that if every high court start passing orders for allocating oxygen, the supply network of the country would devolve into chaos. The Centre moved the apex court on Thursday, following the Karnataka HC’s order asking it to increase the daily oxygen quota for the state from 965 MT to 1200 MT amidst a surge in Covid cases.

In its plea, the Centre said the “High Court failed to consider the rationale behind allocation of certain amounts of oxygen to each State and purely on the basis of purported shortage in the city of Bangalore, passed directions which, if fulfilled, will have a cascading effect and result in the total collapse of the system in its fight against the second wave …”

The government stated that “all hands on the deck have helped ramp up the daily production of LMO to about 9 times and transportation of unprecedented amounts of LMO has been galvanised… However, unless rationally distributed and optimally used, any amount of LMO, will be inadequate…” But the apex court was not convinced.

The Supreme Court, however, declined to interfere with the Central Vista redevelopment project, citing that the matter was already pending with the Delhi High Court and advised the petitioners and the centre to approach the High Court together pleading for an early hearing in the matter demanding stalling of the construction activities for the project due to the prevailing pandemic.

While pronouncing the order on a petition seeking to halt the construction activities of the project, a bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari, also asked the Delhi HC to consider the plea for an early hearing.

“Since the matter is pending before High Court and appeal is against order of adjournment, we are not inclined to enter into the merits of the case. In the given circumstance, we request Shri (Sidharth) Luthra or any other counsel to make request before the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court on Monday to take up the matter as urgently as possible,” the bench said. “We hope and trust that High Court shall consider the prayer for early hearing.”

The issue was raised as “extremely urgent” concern raised by two Delhi residents over the ferrying of labourers to and fro the central vista redevelopment project site amid a devastating public health crisis, and permitted them to approach the Delhi High Court Chief Justice on Monday with a request to hear their case as “early as possible”.

The Bench of Justices Saran and Maheshwari said the mention for an urgent hearing before the Delhi High Court Chief Justice could even be made jointly by the petitioners’ lawyer, senior advocate Luthra and Tushar Mehta, for the Centre.

The petitioners, Anya Malhotra and Sohail Hashmi, had moved the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court adjourned the hearing of their case to May 17, ostensibly to “study” a judgment of the Supreme Court pronounced on January 5, allowing the Central Vista project.

The Supreme Court said that since the case was already pending before the High Court, it did not want to enter into its merits. However, the Bench said the case could be heard by the High Court “as early as possible”.

Luthra said the workers were ferried by bus from Karol Bagh, Kirti Nagar and Sarai Kale Khan. The work seemed to continue owing to a stringent deadline.

“But how can construction be an essential activity when there is a public health crisis on? We are in a position that the caseload may peak by mid-May, and the HC keeps the case on May 17 to study a judgment? Please understand, this is a peculiar situation… HC adjourns to May 17 without notice… We are facing a humanitarian crisis. When human lives are concerned, government needs to protect”. From April 1 to May 3, the positivity rate had ‘shot up’ from 3.57% to about 30%,” he said.

Luthra referred to a Disaster Management Authority circular, which had directed construction activities, except where labourers are residing onsite, to be stopped. “We are facing a humanitarian health crisis. If this project is deferred by 4 to 6 weeks nothing will happen,” he said. But Mehta objected to the special leave petition filed against an order of adjournment by the High Court. “It sets a bad precedent… Our HCs are functioning under great constraints… There are severally factually incorrect statements being made,” he submitted.

However, disposing off the case, the Bench asked the lawyers to take their arguments to the High Court. It advised Luthra and Mehta to “join together” and mention the case before the High Court on Monday for an early hearing.

The union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri, meanwhile, came down heavily on the Congress for opposing the continuation of the central vista project when the country was fighting against a grim pandemic. “There are hundreds of projects being executed by various depts. Governance hasn’t come to a standstill, unlike the Congress’s times of policy paralysis. Central Vista is just another ongoing project. It’s only the Congress that’s obsessed about it, nobody else,” Puri wrote on Twitter.

Puri said by questioning the construction of the central vista project, the Congress had exposed their “shameful double face”.

“Congress doesn’t stop at hypocrisy. Look at their shameful double face. During UPA, Congress leaders wrote about the need for a new parliament. The Speaker in 2012 wrote a letter to the Urban Development Ministry for the same. And now they have the gall to oppose the same project?” Puri wrote in a series of tweets.

Puri also said that the government was well aware of its priorities adding that healthcare is one of the major priorities of the government.

“Congress’s discourse on Central Vista is bizarre. Cost of Central Vista is about ₹20,000 crore, over several years. GoI has allocated nearly twice that amount for vaccination! India’s healthcare budget for just this year was over ₹3 lakh crore. We know our priorities,” Puri wrote on the micro-blogging site.

“There are hundreds of projects being executed by various depts. Governance hasn’t come to a standstill, unlike the Congress’s times of policy paralysis. Central Vista is just another ongoing project. It’s only the Congress that’s obsessed about it, nobody else. Moreover, only projects for New Parliament Building & rejuvenation of Central Vista Avenue have been awarded at an estimated cost of ₹862 crore & ₹477 crore respectively till now.

Earlier in the day, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had raised questions on Central Vista project. Calling the project “criminal wastage,” Gandhi wrote, “Put people’s lives at the centre- not your blind arrogance to get a new house!” on Twitter. The Congress party has often questioned the government on the Central Vista project urging them to shelve the project and give priority to improving medical infrastructure in the country as it faces the challenge of the pandemic.