HC 'trashes' drug body's clean chit to Gambhir, says he took advantage just to look like saviour

New Delhi: While rapping BJP leader Gautam Gambhir for "taking advantage of the situation" and later on try and appear as a "saviour" by distributing the medicines to patients, the Delhi High Court on Monday came down heavily on the Drug Controller of Delhi for filing a "trash" and an "unsatisfactory" inquiry report regarding the alleged hoarding of Fabiflu medicines by the East Delhi MP and stated that its "conscience is shaken" in the drug controlling authority.

The remarks were made by a division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh in response to a status report filed by the drug authority with regard to Gambhir's alleged hoarding of medicines after the court had transferred the probe from the Delhi Police to the drug body.

Calling the report filed before it as "not worth more than the paper it's written on", the court asked Additional Standing Counsel Nandita Rao, appearing for the drug authority, that had she even gone through the report before presenting it before the bench. This was in response to her informing the court that an April 19 letter from one Garg Hospital was treated as a purchase order to procure the said medicines from wholesale dealers who "didn't have any shortage".

"He (Gambhir) interrupted the normal flow of medicines...he buys thousands of strips because he wants to hold a camp...he purchased without any basis...how can such a large stock of medicines be given to a foundation which is not a medical practitioner? How can even a medical practitioner go and purchase 40,000 strips?" Justice Sanghi orally remarked.

Lashing out at ASC Rao after she made a submission stating that several people have died due to this alleged hoarding, the court stated, "We don't expect you to appear for the persons concerned...we will not accept such frivolous arguments. He is a man who is hoarding thousands of strips of medicines and we don't know for what consideration".

Commenting on the inquiry report, the bench further said that the same was "trash" and "unsatisfactory" and told ASC Rao, "You want us to shut our eyes. You can't take us for a ride. If you think we are so gullible, we are naive, we'll give you back hard...you better be ready to answer any question...have you gone through the rules or just accepted the status report sent by them (Drug controller)".

Justice Sanghi further said that Gambhir's "pernicious" activity should be denounced and one should be mindful of the steps one is taking as there are pitfalls and adverse impacts of everything. "Thousands of people needed it...time was of essence, patience didn't have them, 286 strips were left which shows that he got more than what was required…" he said.

A visibly dissatisfied Justice Sanghi also stated that the court will suspend the person carrying out the probe and appoint someone else for the job if need be. ASC Rao was further pulled up for telling the court that there was no shortage of medicines with the dealers, where the court said that it can't be the case.

During the hearing, Additional Drug Controller KR Aggarwal told the court that the report was filed in "haste" to meet the deadline and said that another one will be filed accordingly. Eventually ASC Rao submitted that a fresh status report will be filed covering all the missing aspects and the same will be filed at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the bench rejected the report filed with respect to that of MLA Praveen Kumar who allegedly hoarded oxygen cylinders during the Covid crisis in the capital. MLA Priti Tomar's inquiry report was however accepted as "satisfactory". The matter will now be taken up on June 3.