Imprisoning the guilty Officers for contempt of Court won’t supply oxygen; doing the actual work will !

Supreme Court slams Centre !

New Delhi – ‘It is the responsibility of Central Government to obey the Court orders and imprison those officials who are in the contempt of Court. However, just by putting officers in jail or hauling them up for contempt will not get oxygen for Delhi; action needs to be taken on the ground’, the Supreme Court said as it came down heavily on the Centre regarding shortage of oxygen in Delhi. The Delhi HC had issued notice to the Centre seeking its response on the petition filed regarding shortage of oxygen. The Centre challenged this notice in the Supreme Court. The SC however, slammed the Centre while hearing the case.

[BREAKING] "Hauling up officers for contempt won't bring oxygen:" Supreme Court bench of Justice Chandrachud and MR Shah stays Delhi High Court order on contempt of court against Centre

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1. ‘How much oxygen have you supplied to Delhi ? Why did you tell the HC that the SC has not ordered us to supply 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi ?’, Supreme Court asked the Central Government.

2. The Centre told the Court, ‘There was no huge demand for oxygen in the month of April; however, the demand rose suddenly. Delhi needs 450 MT of oxygen.’

3. The Court replied, ‘We ordered you to supply 700 MT of oxygen and we are firm on it. We will not settle on anything less than that.’

4. The Court said, ‘We are going through a national crisis, where people are dying due to shortage of oxygen. The Central Government is working round the clock, yet the shortage exists and thus we need a comprehensive plan from the Centre.’

5. The Court further said, ‘The Central Government is working on presumptions. Different States are peaking at different times. You cannot have a general assessment for the entire country. Delhi’s condition is worse. You should collect information throughout the day. People should know the amount of oxygen allocated to a particular hospital. What did you do in the past 3 days ? During the next hearing on 10th May, we will review State Government’s preparations, while you tell about what you did for 700 MT of oxygen supply.’

Delhi should learn from BMC (Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation) !

The Court also praised BMC for its exemplary job in handling the Covid crisis and asked Delhi to learn from it.