Govt informs HC of withdrawing order on 100-bed facility for judges in Ashoka Hotel

New delhi: The Delhi government on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that it has withdrawn the order directing allocation of 100 beds at the five-star Ashoka Hotel at Chanakyapuri as Covid care centre for judges and other judicial staff, days after the court denied requesting the setting up of such a facility.

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli were informed by the government's counsel that the said order passed by Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Chanakyapuri, Geeta Grover on April 25, had been withdrawn as directed by the court during the last hearing and hence after taking a statement regarding this on record, the court disposed of the suo motu case.

In an earlier hearing, the bench, after taking cognisance of media reports to this effect, called the order "misleading" and said that it was "patently discriminatory".

The high court has not made any such request for setting up beds in any such five star hotel," the bench had said and added that the order passed by the sub-divisional magistrate was wrong as the state cannot create a facility exclusively for a class.

It had said when the Delhi government was unable to provide oxygen to everybody, it was talking of providing a 100-bed facility for the high court judges.

It had said the government cannot create a facility exclusively for a class, therefore, the SDM's order was wrong.

The court had said it only had a meeting to discuss the situation in the subordinate judiciary where judges had to hold court in person and many of them, including their families, were infected by COVID-19.

(With PTI inputs)