Supply Of Oxygen : Delhi High Court Directs Meeting Between Govt, Hospital And Suppliers

The Delhi High Court today directed the 3 major stakeholders in the Covid-19 oxygen shortage issue plaguing the national capital – apart from the pandemic – the hospitals, the Delhi government and the suppliers of oxygen, that they must get together and conduct a meeting on a priority basis at 5 pm today to discuss modalities of, and issues in oxygen supply to hospitals  across Delhi.

This, even as a representative of a major supplier, M/s. Inox, Siddharth Jain, informed court that their "transporter takes 10 MT oxygen, dropping 2 MT in every hospital,like a milkman," but midway during this gets SOS calls is diverted, disrupting supply chains.

Jain complained to the court, "I've been doing this for 20 years, have not got a single complaint pan India from any hospital. It's only Delhi, please tell why?" Jain also told the court, that Inox was overburdened, short-staffed due to the virus attacking its workforce as well, however, they would ensure uninterrupted oxygen supply to the hospitals, provided they knew whom to supply it to.

He indicated that allocation of hospitals to different suppliers would ease the burden on different suppliers, and streamline the process of oxygen supply – at a time when demand is high and supply low.

The bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rekha Palli has been hearing urgent pleas praying to the court for exigent oxygen supply. It has directed the parties to attend the meeting at 5 pm today itself, and present a report on the same before court tomorrow.

Acting on the suppliers' complaint that it is not possible to keep filling in compliance forms every 2 hours on details of supply, as requested by the Delhi government, the court also directed that "compliances should be kept at a minimal level" to avoid burdening the suppliers unnecessarily.

While appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has maintained that there is "enough oxygen" if it is "distributed properly", he also submitted that it had come to their notice that the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government had got in touch with Jindal Steel and Power Ltd top-honcho Sajjan Jindal, seeking procurement of extra oxygen. Shunning this practice in strong words, he said that, "The procurement of oxygen has to be at the national level only, else there will be complete chaos. State government can procure (empty) tankers (to pick up oxygen in) but not oxygen."

This was in reference to the Delhi government's earlier admission before the court that though it had been allocated oxygen from various plants, being a non-industrial state it had no cryogenic tankers to pick up the oxygen in.