RISHI Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Case has been heard through Video Conferencing on account of COVID-19 Pandemic.

(2.) At the outset, Mr. Khosla has pointed out that there is severe shortfall in supply of oxygen to all the three States within the jurisdiction of this High Court. The allocated quantity of oxygen is either not being supplied or has been allotted from very distant places, such as, Rourkela and Jamnagar etc., timeline for which is not conducive. By the time the arrangements are made, the States are virtually left starving of oxygen, resulting in many deaths.

(3.) As regards supply of oxygen in State of Punjab, Mr. Atul Nanda, learned Advocate General, Punjab submits that the State requires 300 MT oxygen whereas the Centre has allocated to it 227 MT oxygen which is also not reaching the State. Sufficient number of containers are not allotted to transport the same. Besides, the State needs 600 doses of Tocilizumab which is considered as life saving drug in critical cases. He has also emphasized on the shortage of vaccination in the State. According to him, the entire vaccination has to be made available by the Centre for the age group of 45 and above. The requisite quantity has not been supplied so far. There is a shortfall of 32 lakhs of doses. In total, 2.64 crores doses are required in the State of Punjab for the age group of 18 to 45 years. The State has been given liberty to secure the same from two suppliers, namely, Serum Institute, Pune and Bharat Biotech on payment basis. This demand has also not been met despite the fact that orders have been placed after following due procedure.