Supplier directed not to divert O2 from Delhi by HC
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the firm M/s Inox, which used to supply oxygen to Delhi hospitals and has suddenly stopped, to immediately restore the oxygen supply.
"We direct M/s Inox to honour its contract and supply oxygen to Delhi government and hospitals here and restore 140 metric ton oxygen supply to Delhi immediately which shall inturn be distributed to needy hospitals here," the bench said.
The direction came after Delhi government's submissions before a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli, which said one of the reasons for the shortage of oxygen was a diversion to one of the largest states of the country.
When asked to name the state, Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra refrained from doing so and merely said, "It is one of the largest states. I will leave it at that."
During the hearing, Delhi government said that the firm which used to supply 140 metric ton of oxygen per day to the hospitals in the national Capital has suddenly stopped its supply and is diverting to another state.
Delhi has been reporting around 25,000 COVID-19 cases daily for the past few days.
Hospitals in the city have been grappling with depleting supply of medical oxygen amid spiralling COVID-19 cases.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Sunday termed the shortage of oxygen for coronavirus patients an "emergency". He also wrote to Union Minister of Commerce and Industries Piyush Goyal, seeking his intervention in the matter.
The remarks came when the HC on its own revived a petition on Covid-19 in Delhi in light of the fresh surge of cases, saying "it is evident that the healthcare infrastructure is at the stage of imminent collapse".
The high court also added that there is an "unending flood" of people outside diagnostic laboratories for getting COVID-19 tests and Delhi government's threat to shut down their premises in case reports are delivered later than 24 hours is not advisable at this time of the pandemic.
The high court's order came hours after the Delhi government issued an order imposing curfew for six days starting from 10 PM tonight till 5 PM on April 26.
