Take call on online sale, home delivery of liquor by May 15: HC to Delhi govt

nNEWDELHI: The Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi government to decide on the online sale and home delivery of liquor in the national capital by May 15. The Delhi government assured the court that it would decide by the mandated date.

A bench of justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal was hearing a plea by a 21-year-old law student, Aadhaar Gaur, who had sought a ban on the sale of liquor in the city. He had challenged the May 3 notification of the Delhi government, which had permitted the sale of liquor.

On Wednesday, during the hearing, the Centre informed the bench that several states had started the online sale of alcohol. Gaur submitted that the petition was not maintainable and that a similar matter had been dismissed by the Supreme Court of India.

The Delhi government’s counsel submitted that the sale of liquor was a matter of public policy and it was for the state to make a decision.

The Delhi government counsel assured the court that the decision by the government would definitely be taken on or before May 15.

Following such submissions, the court refused to pass an order and said that all the contentions of the petitioner had already been heard and considered.

“This petition is also thus liable to be dismissed,” the court said.

nNEW DELHI: A day after a Rohini Jail inmate,who was sent to a government hospital for a routine surgery tested positive for Covid-19, as many as 19 prisoners were quarantined and tested on Thursday for the Sars-cov-2 infection, jail officers said.

The 29-year-old prisoner was admitted for a surgery at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital on Sunday.

Doctors had tested him for the virus on Monday. Jail officers said that the hospital informed the prison department on Wednesday about the inmate’s test results.

The prisoner has been shifted to one of the nayional Capital’s Covid-19 speciality hospitals, the Lok Nayak hospital.

Prison officials said the inmate was asymptomatic and was brought to the prison in December last year in connection with a robbery case.

Additional inspector general, Raj Kumar of Tihar prisons said, “Nineteen prisoners in Rohini district jail, with whom he (the 29-year-old prisoner) was in contact during his prison stay have been tested. They did not show any symptoms but we have still isolated them as a precaution. The prisoner, who tested positive, is not a new prisoner. He was in prison for 4-5 months. Along with the 19 prisoners, some jails officials and a few doctors who had interacted with him have also been tested. The result is awaited.”

This is the first case of a prisoner in Delhi testing positive for the coronavirus disease.

Officials said that all superintendents of Tihar jail, which houses around 15,000 prisoners, is already on high alert.

Rohini jail is a smaller complex compared to Tihar and houses around 2,500 prisoners.

Tihar Jail officials are on high alert after reports of the disease spreading rapidly in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail.

In Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail where 4,000 prisoners are lodged, within a week of one prisoner contracting the virus, the infection had affected 184 prisoners and prison staff.

It also prompted the Maharashtra to look at releasing half the prisoners in its jails to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease.