Delhi govt seeks Army’s assistance

Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Delhi government, on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that deputy chief minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia has written to Union defence minister Rajnath Singh for the assistance of Army to handle Covid-19.

Senior Advocate Mehra read the Delhi government letter before the Delhi High Court.

He informed the court that the Delhi government wrote to the minister for lending services of armed forces to set up and operationalise Covid facilities with about 10,000 oxygenated non-ICU beds and 1000 ICU beds.

A Division Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rakha Palli asked the Central government counsel to take instruction on the communication by Delhi’s deputy cheif minister to Union defence minister.

Earlier on Monday, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was moved in the Delhi High Court seeking for handing over of management of oxygen supplies, including logistical aspect, in and around Delhi to Armed Forces for ensuring uninterrupted supply to hospitals and Covid facility.

Delhi HC is already hearing a matter regarding the supply of oxygen in Delhi hospitals and other related issues.

The public interest litigation was mentioned before the division bench for urgent listing today by Senior Advocates Abhinav Vasisht, Sacchin Puri, and Jagdeep Singh Bakshi.

The petition titled as Manish Gupta Vs. GNCTD and Ors. has been filed by advocates Praveen K. Sharma, Dhananjay Grover and Kamil Khan.

The petition has sought for handing over the management of oxygen supplies to the Armed Forces.

The petition has sought direction from the respondent to enhance the oxygen allocation of Delhi from 590MT to 1000 MT.