In a baffling move, a recent court order states that 10 of the 12 oxygen concentrators seized by the Delhi police should be allotted to judges and judicial officials instead of being used for the public at a time when Delhi is faced with an oxygen shortage and continues to struggle with the second wave of the pandemic.
The order by Delhi HC dated 5 May was passed in response to a plea that asked for oxygen concentrators seized from accused Vinay Agarwal and Akash Vashisht be used for police personnel suffering from Covid. These oxygen concentrators have been deposited with Dwarka Malkhana police station and instead of lying unused there, these can be used for saving the lives of police personnel said the plea.
The order says that no useful purpose would be solved to retain the oxygen concentrators in the police Malkhana and should be circulated for use of needy patients. It further notes that the nature of the work of judicial officers also exposes them to the deadly Chinese Virus. In addition to a large number of judicial officers and their families being infected by the Virus, a couple of them have also lost their lives.
The court order then says:
Ergo, in the best health interest of police officer, judicial officers, and their family members, this court deems it fit to release and put to immediate use, the 12 oxygen concentrators, seized in the present FIR, for medication of police officers, judicial officers, and their family members.
The court then instructs that 2 oxygen concentrators are to be handed over to Dwarka DCP, 3 to the Tiz Hazari court office, 3 to the Dwarka sessions court office, 3 to the Saket sessions court office and 2 to Delhi Judicial Academy’s Covid Health Centre located in Dwarka.
A pertinent question has been raised asking that shouldn’t these oxygen cylinders that have been seized in the police raid be released for public use as Delhi is suffering due to oxygen shortage. This order also gives weightage to speculations that Kejriwal’s move to book special beds in Ashoka Hotel for the judiciary also couldn’t have been a unilateral decision and that court criticized the Delhi govt only after the matter came in open.
(Featured Image Source: The Indian Express)
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