'We Want Union To Supply 700 MT Oxygen To Delhi On Daily Basis, We Mean Business' : Supreme Court Directs Centre

The Supreme Court has clarified that it wants Central Government to continue supplying 700 MT of liquid medical oxygen to Delhi on a daily basis until further orders.A bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that an order to that effect has been passed, which will be uploaded during the course of the day."We want 700 MT to be supplied to Delhi on a daily basis. We mean business. Please don't force us to be in a situation where we have to be firm," Justice Chandrachud told Soliciotr General Tushar Mehta.The bench affirmed that its April 30 direction meant a daily supply of 700 MT oxygen to Delhi and that the Centre cannot say that it fulfilled the direction by supplying the said quantity on a single day."We want 700 MT to be supplied to Delhi on a daily basis. We will clarify it in our order. It is not that 700 MT is supplied one a single day and court's order are assuaged. We want Union to supply 700 MT to Delhi on daily basis. We mean business. Our order will say it. Your officers have to ensure it", Justice Chandrachud told the Solicitor General."You have to supply 700 MT oxygen every day till we modify our order", Justice MR Shah also told the SG. Delete Justice Chandrachud: We want the Centre to supply to DELHI 700. And we mean business. This is not just my view. This the joint view of the Bench. We will clarify this in the order. #OxygenShortage #SupremeCourt— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) May 7, 2021 The bench made these remarks after Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, told it that the quantity supplied for yesterday was 537 MT.The bench of Justices Chandrachud and Justice M.R. Shah was considering the Centre's SLP against the Delhi High Court's contempt notice to its officials for failing to secure a supply of 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi in terms of court directions. Having stayed the contempt show-cause notice on May 5, the bench had required the Centre to explain its plan to achieve the requisite supply.Yesterday (May 6), the bench had considered the plan submitted by the Centre, and reserved orders. The order is likely to be uploaded during the course of today.What transpired in yesterday's hearingAt the outset, SG Tushar Mehta informed the Court that by the end of the day on Wednesday, 730.7 MT oxygen has been received by the NCT of Delhi, as per the report of the Delhi government itself. "This is more than Your Lordships' direction of 700 MT", he said. He pointed out that in view of this large quantity which has reached Delhi since yesterday, Delhi is in excess of oxygen now. "I know for a fact that it has not come to be distributed as yet. It is important to point out that after this huge supply, unloading is taking long, which is increasing the turnaround time for the tankers", he submitted.It was his case that states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are also asking for more oxygen now, and that if more than Delhi's rational requirement of oxygen is given to it, it will deprive other states of an equitable distribution. It will also hamper the equitable distribution of the tankers among the states. "707 is not the correct factual position. It will result in an interference with the allocation to other states if this supply is kept up, in complying with the order of April 30. The consequences will then be beyond the control of the central government", advanced the SG.He proceeded to indicate that even on the supply of 585 MT, as on May 4, there has been no complaint of "stock out" from Delhi. "A survey of 56 major hospitals of Delhi, including Batra, Fortis, Ganga Ram, was carried out on May 4 between 8 and 8:45 PM. It revealed that the current stock available with these hospitals is 280 MT (without including the re-fillers), the average daily consumption is 290 and the storage capacity is 478. All hospitals in the survey are using LMO. This reveals that there are significant stocks available with the hospitals", he submitted.At this, Justice Chandrachud interjected to ask, "It appears you gave 700 to Delhi yesterday. We appreciate the efforts that your officers have made to comply with our orders overnight. We like the spirit in which it has been achieved in last 24 hours. But (as per Sumita Dawra, Additional Secretary to the GOI in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade), the next time it reaches 700 will be on May 10 because of the turnaround time of the containers. The supply will fall to 560 in the next 2 days due to the container issue...now, the storage capacity of the 56 hospitals is 478. After accounting for the refill cylinders, the total storage capacity comes to 665. To what extent is the storage capacity availed of? It must be empty right now?"Justice Shah elaborated, "Is oxygen there or not in this storage capacity? It doesn't seem so because the current stock is 280 and the average daily consumption is 290"The...

'We Want Union To Supply 700 MT Oxygen To Delhi On Daily Basis, We Mean Business' : Supreme Court Directs Centre

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