Supreme Court Directs Audit Of Medical Oxygen Supplied To States/UTs To Ensure Accountability

The Supreme Court has directed an audit of the supplies of liquid medical oxygen made by the Centre to all States and Union Territories.

"The purpose is to ensure that the supplies which have been allocated are reaching their destination; that they are being made available through the distribution network to the hospitals or, as the case may be, the end users efficiently and on a transparent basis; and to identify bottlenecks or issues in regard to the utilization of oxygen", a bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah observed.

The bench also clarified, "The purpose of the audit is not to scrutinise the decisions made in good faith by doctors while treating their patients".

The audit will be conducted by sub-groups which are to be formed by the 12-member National Task Force constituted by the Court to formulate the methodology to allocate oxygen to states.

The sub-groups/committees constituted by the National Task Force for each State/UT shall consist of:

(i) An officer of the State/UT Government not below the rank of Secretary to the State Government;

(ii) An officer of the Union Government not below the rank of Additional/Joint Secretary;

(iii) Two medical doctors in the State/UT concerned including at least one with administrative experience of managing the medical facilities of a hospital; and

(iv) A representative from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO).

Audit sub-group for Delhi

Further for carrying out the above audit exercise specially for Delhi, the audit sub-group shall consist of:

(i) Dr Randeep Guleria, Professor and Head, Department of Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep, AIIMS;

(ii) Dr Sandeep Budhiraja, Clinical Director & Director – Internal Medicine, Max Healthcare; and

(iii) An IAS officer, each from the Union Government and GNCTD, not below the rank of Joint Secretary.

The Court also directed :

"The Union Government shall continue with the present practice of making allocations of oxygen (as modified by the orders of this Court or the orders of the High Courts as the case may be) until the Task Force has submitted its recommendations in regard to proposed modalities. The Union Government shall on receipt of the recommendations of the Task Force take an appropriate decision in regard to the allocation of oxygen and on all other recommendations. The Task Force shall also submit its recommendations from time to time to this Court".

Also from the order :

Supreme Court Constitutes National Task Force To Formulate Methodology For Scientific Allocation Of Medical Oxygen To States, UTs

No Material Produced By Centre To Show Increasing Delhi's Oxygen Allocation By 210 MT Will Reduce Other States' Quota :Supreme Court