Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday asked Punjab, Haryana and UT Chandigarh to inform it about the arrangements made to tackle the situation arising out of the spread of Covid-19 in the region.
HC has sought the status reports from three states after the court appointed Amicus Curiae sought its intervention about “complete chaos” and “alarming situation” in the region. It was also told about non-compliance of Covid guidelines, non-availability of adequate beds and oxygen in the region.
While Haryana was already a party in the case, Punjab and Chandigarh have been added as new respondents. Now Punjab, Haryana and UT have been told to file status reports by April 22 regarding the steps taken to control the situation and availability of requisite facilities including availability of oxygen, beds etc. for the patients.
A division bench comprising Justice Rajan Gupta and Justice Karamjit Singh passed these orders while hearing an ongoing petition related to Haryana. Earlier, the HC had sought reply from the Haryana government on the issue and also appointed senior advocate Rupinder Khosla as Amicus Curiae to assist on the issue.
When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday, Khosla told the HC, “Government guidelines are not being followed in the region. Beds are not available to those who are seeking admission in hospitals. Supply of oxygen is severely depleted.” While submitting that the situation demanded immediate attention of the court on the issue, he also requested the court to implead the Punjab government and the Chandigarh administration as party on the issue. He emphasised on the casual attitude of the general public even at a stage when the spread of Covid is reaching its peak.
Meanwhile responding to the issue, the counsel for Haryana government submitted that appropriate steps are being taken to address the issues raised by the Amicus. However, he did not dispute the fact that something more needs to be done to bring the situation under control. He also apprised the court that a state level monitoring committee headed by the state health minister has been constituted to look into various issues particularly timely supply of oxygen to the hospitals. The Haryana government informed that the daily requirement of oxygen as on date is 70/80 MT while the production in the state of Haryana is 270 MT. An affidavit was also filed by Pankaj Yadav, secretary, department of home, Haryana, on behalf of the state regarding the steps taken by the government on the issue.
On this, Amicus told the HC that he has gone through the government’s affidavit but it does not answer all the questions raised by this court. During the hearing of the case, the government counsel informed that a status report on the issue would be filed on the next date of hearing. The case would now come up for hearing on April 22.