HC DISMISSES PLEA AGAINST COVID BEDS FOR GOVT STAFF IN DELHI HOTELS

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Thursday dismissed a plea by a city-based doctor challenging the decision of the Delhi government to link four hotels with two hospitals for the treatment of government officials and their families during the second Covid-19 wave.

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said there was no merit in the contentions raised by petitioner Kaushal Kant Mishra, who argued that creating such exclusive facilities for officials violated the fundamental rights of the citizens of Delhi, who were deprived of Covid-19 treatment owing to limited resources. The court refused to accept the submission of the petitioner’s counsel that resources of the state remained unutilised due to the exclusive reservation of facilities for government officials and their families. It said the plea has not considered the ground reality during the second wave.

In an April 27 notification, the Delhi government had reserved 240 rooms in four hotels and linked them to two hospitals for Covid-19 treatment of officials of various public authorities and their families.

According to the notification, 70 rooms in Hotel Ginger at Vivek Vihar, 50 rooms in Hotel Park Plaza in Shahdara, and 50 rooms in Hotel Leela Ambience at CBD Ground in Karkardooma were linked to Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital and all the rooms in Hotel Golden Tulip at Hari Nagar were linked to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital for the treatment of officers/officials of the Delhi government, autonomous bodies, corporations, local bodies and families.

On Wednesday, while dictating a part of the order, the court questioned how the government machinery would have functioned if its employees were not assured treatment. “The wheels of administration in the NCT of Delhi would have come to a grinding halt without this much assurance to the officials that they will receive treatment, they would not have been able to discharge their duties without fear,” the bench said.