Can't be a mute spectator in national crisis, says SC

New Delhi: Terming the massive resurgence of COVID-19 cases a "national crisis", the Supreme Court Tuesday said it cannot remain a mute spectator and made clear that its suo motu proceeding on devising national policy for COVID-19 management is not meant to supplant high court hearings.

A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud said the high courts are in a better position to monitor the pandemic situation within their territorial boundaries and the apex court was playing a complementary role and its intervention must be understood in the correct perspective as there are some matters which transcend the regional boundaries.

There is a need for top court's intervention on certain national issues as there might be matters related to coordination between states, it said.

"We are playing complementary role. If High Courts have any difficulty in dealing with issues due to territorial limitations, we will help, said the bench, also comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat.

These observations assume significance as some lawyers had criticized the apex court last Thursday for taking suo motu cognizance of the pandemic's resurgence and issues by saying that high courts be allowed to continue with hearings.

The bench on Tuesday also took note of the submissions of lawyers including senior advocate Vikas Singh on differential pricing of COVID-19 vaccines and asked the Centre to apprise it of the rationale and basis behind such pricing.

Different manufacturers are coming out with different prices. What is Centre doing about it, said the bench, which also comprised justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat.

The bench referred to the powers of the Centre under the Drugs Control law to control the price of medicines and said the pandemic was perhaps the right time to invoke such powers.

"This is a pandemic and a national crisis. If this is not the time to issue such powers, what is the time, it asked.

On the government's decision to vaccinate all citizens above 18 years, the court sought replies from states by Thursday as to how they intend to cope with the surge in vaccine demand and the infrastructure required for that.

The bench also asked the Centre to apprise the top court of the modalities on the distribution of oxygen as well as the vaccines to states and the monitoring mechanism.

In the hearing, conducted via video conferencing, the top court also appointed senior counsel Jaideep Gupta and Meenakshi Arora as amicus curiae to assist it in the COVID-19 management case as Harish Salve had sought recusal following some controversial remarks by some lawyers.

Meanwhile, the Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that medical oxygen in any country cannot be unlimited and with the active and constant supervision of the Prime Minister it is augmenting the oxygen supply on a war footing to provide relief to COVID-19 patients.

The government said oxygen supplies available at any given time in the country are to be distributed to all the states, especially those which are critically burdened with high number of active COVID cases, in a balanced manner.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the sheer magnitude of this unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases itself bring with it certain inbuilt limitations in terms of available resources which need to be professionally augmented and utilised.

Further, the centre said to deal with shortage of medical oxygen, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is in the process of commissioning 162 PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption technology to generate oxygen at local level) plants across the country on a war footing.

In its 200-page affidavit, filed in the suo motu case on distribution of essential supplies and services during Pandemic, the Centre said "any singular/isolated deviation in such plan for a particular State (either under a judicial order or otherwise) without keeping in mind the national availability and ever changing requirements of each State is bound to have a cascading effect on oxygen supply to other States. The bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat posted the matter for further hearing on Friday.