‘Are you living in ivory towers?’: HC slams Centre over O2 supply
Court rejects Centre’s submission that Delhi is not entitled to 700 metric tonnes of medical oxygen in light of existing medical infrastructure
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Tuesday directed the Centre to show cause as to why contempt not be initiated against it for failing to comply with order on supply of oxygen to Delhi for treating Covid-19 patients.
“You can put your head in sand like an ostrich, we will not” the high court said. “Are you living in ivory towers?”A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli also rejected the Centre’s submission that Delhi was not entitled to 700 metric tonnes of medical oxygen in light of existing medical infrastructure.
“We see grim reality everyday of people not able to secure oxygen or ICU beds in hospitals” which have reduced beds due to gas shortage, it said.
The high court directed two senior central government officers to be present before it on
Wednesday to respond to the notice.
It said the Supreme Court’s April 30 detailed order shows direction to the central government to provide 700 MT of oxygen per day to Delhi, not just 490
MT.
It said that the Supreme Court has already directed and now the high court is also saying that the Centre will have to supply 700 MT oxygen daily to Delhi right away by whatever means.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to show cause as to why contempt not be initiated against it for failing to comply with an order on supply of oxygen to Delhi for treating COVID-19 patients.
“You can put your head in sand like an ostrich, we will not” the high court said. “Are you living in ivory towers?”A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli also rejected the Centre’s submission that Delhi was not entitled to 700 metric tonnes of medical oxygen in light of existing medical infrastructure.
“We see grim reality everyday of people not able to secure oxygen or ICU beds in hospitals” which have reduced beds due to gas shortage, it said.
The high court directed two senior central government officers to be present before it on Wednesday to respond to the notice.
It said the Supreme Court’s April 30 detailed order shows direction to the central government to provide 700 MT of oxygen per day to Delhi, not just 490 MT.
It further said that the Supreme Court has already directed and now the high court is also saying that the Centre will have to supply 700 MT oxygen daily to Delhi right away by whatever means
Separately, the High Court on Tuesday sought responses of the Centre and the Delhi government on a public interest litigation (PIL) to temporarily increase the number of cremation and burial sites in the city in view of the “overwhelming” number of people dying due to COVID-19 daily.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh issued a notice to the Centre, Delhi government, National Disaster Management Authority and the municipal bodies seeking their stand on the plea by a lawyer.
The court directed the authorities to consider data provided by the petitioner, Pratyush Prasanna, while filing their replies.
In his plea filed through advocate Snigdha Singh, Prasanna has claimed that “due to an acute shortage of hospital beds and other necessities such as testing kits and oxygen supply, there have been an overwhelming number of deaths in the country, especially in the national capital region”.
As a result, the cremation sites and burial grounds are also full and, therefore, a substantial amount of time was being taken to cremate the body, the plea has claimed.
“Hence, a temporary increase in the number of cremation sites, grounds, burial sites is necessitated,” the petition has said.
It has sought directions to make alternate arrangements for converting any park, field, open space, stadium or any other similar place as cremation site/ burial ground.