On Wednesday, April 21, 2021, the Delhi High Court taking note of the gravity of the distress engulfing Delhi over the diminishing quantity of medical oxygen issued a contempt notice to oxygen firm, INOX, for its non-compliance to the earlier order to honour its contract and supply oxygen to Delhi.
As the country grapples with a shortage of oxygen, independent private oxygen manufacturers have taken a step ahead in providing relief as the demand for medical oxygen rises to 5000 TPD( Tonne per day), by as much as seven times the demand during the pre-pandemic era.
The national capital, Delhi is among the worst-hit states with numbers above 20000 every day in the face of easily exhaustible medical oxygen.
Amidst the deprecating condition in the national capital, the oxygen firm, INOX, while dishonouring its contract with the Delhi government and hospitals, diverted the supply of its oxygen from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh.
On April 19, a division bench issued an order directing M/s INOX to honour its contract and supply the agreed quantity of 140 MT of oxygen to Delhi. The order, however, as submitted by Delhi Government Counsel Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra, was not complied with, by INOX as a result of which has added to the grave dearth of oxygen that Delhi has already been facing.
Along with the submission about the non-compliance, the Senior Advocate also intimated to the bench the reason for the non-compliance by INOX is that supplies are transported from Uttar Pradesh, where the manufacturing unit is situated.
The division bench comprising Justice Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli, taking note of the submission, issued a Notice of Contempt to M/s INOX returnable on 22.04.2021, directing the Managing Director/ Owner of M/s INOX to personally remain present during the hearing. The bench also directed the presence of the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh during the next hearing, which will be considered on April 22, 2021.
The order has similar connotations of providing relief as has been observed by the same bench in Rakesh Malhotra v Union of India, under which the court issued directions for the availability of beds and questioned the government about the delay in the ban of the use of oxygen for industries.
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