Centre fails to get 490MT O2 to Delhi, files plea to recall HC contempt order

New Delhi: Delhi's hospitals, on life-support, kept flocking to the Delhi High Court for oxygen a day after the Centre failed to comply with the court's direction to ensure that 490MT oxygen reached Capital by the end of Saturday, with the Delhi government informing the court that from midnight to midnight, the city had got 422MT of oxygen from the Centre; and the Centre pleading the bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli to recall the order threatening contempt proceedings.

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, for the Delhi government, while responding to the Centre's plea, said that officials in the Delhi government are working day and night on war footing to ensure oxygen gets where needed. He went on to object to the Centre's line of argument that it was the states' responsibility to arrange for cryogenic tankers and argued instead that it was the Centre that had failed to account for Delhi's transportation and tanker needs after taking control of oxygen plants in the country.

Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, for the Central government, argued against the Saturday high court order shifting the liability of arranging tankers to the Centre, by saying that the reason the allocated oxygen could not reach the city was because of a lack of systemic coordination and effort on behalf of the state government.

During the hearing, S-G Mehta said: "Systematic failure doesn't mean the government has failed... Systematic failure is not a political statement. It doesn't mean that the leadership failed...

Every state has done this. Every state has done this. We can't nationalise the tanker. It has to be state-wise... Please ask them to augment tankers. Centre will help."

Moreover, the S-G went on to suggest that the Delhi government's management system was not efficient and that the city should adopt the "Kerala model", referring to a central war room — a triage — for oxygen requests, to which the Delhi government said it already had one.

All this while adding that all Delhi needed to do was reach out to the Centre.

However, the court was quick to point out that the Delhi government had already written to the Centre regarding this and it would be incorrect to say there has been no effort on their part.

Defending Delhi government officials, Mehra had earlier informed the court that the state had managed to procure seven cryogenic tankers in the last week and was in the process to get 18 more from Adani under CSR, but Linde the supplier had put a spanner in their works.

Senior advocate Mehra had also told the court that it was in fact the Centre's responsibility to arrange for the tankers as well because it had taken over oxygen plants across the country and re-allocated supply without thinking of consequences.

He said: "Half of my capacity in Delhi was disturbed by making Inox supply to other States by not making alternate arrangements for Delhi... My suggestion is to take over all tankers across India and equitably distribute it." Mehra continued that other states might not have similar problems because they were already allocated either as much as or more than their demand. "Delhi is getting less than 40 per cent of what is required," he said, adding that never had the Delhi government even sought 1,000MT of oxygen as alleged by the Centre. He said that all Delhi has been asking is for the allocated amount to reach the city in time.

During the hearing, the Centre and the Delhi government also argued with each other over the correct way to calculate the amount of oxygen received by Delhi every day with the Delhi government saying it does not count the amount in transit but only the amount that has reached.

The court sided with the Delhi government on this aspect, saying: "The principle cannot be sale means place an order. Supplier may take hours to fill... you may have blocked the sale for hours earlier. Logically it should be when it reaches Delhi."

"Look at the constitutional scheme. Delhi is not an industrial state," the court pointed out.

The S-G said the Centre would look into it and the court listed this aspect for Wednesday.

And as the high court hearing was underway, the bench of Justices Sanghi and Palli saw four more hospitals approach it saying they would run out of oxygen in minutes.

Early on, Sita Ram Bhartiya Hospital reported it had 30 mins of oxygen left, following which Venkateshwara hospital complained that the Nodal officer was unresponsive with just one hour of supply left. Soon after, the Institute of Brain and Science also raised an SOS, a little after which MD City Hospital also came begging to the court for oxygen.

The city's hospitals continued to gasp for supplies as the acute crisis entered its 12th day.