Oxygen deaths panel: Delhi govt asks LG to exercise powers ‘judiciously’

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the Delhi government, said the AAP dispensation took the decision “for the people but is not being able to implement this”.

The Delhi government on Monday told the Delhi high court that the Lieutenant Governor (LG) should exercise his powers with “judiciousness” and not in an “obstructionist manner” in support of a petition that sought to operationalise the six-member high powered committee to probe into deaths caused by alleged oxygen shortage during the last wave of Covid-19 pandemic in April.

The government’s affidavit came on a plea by Riti Singh Verma who demanded that all Covid-19 deaths be probed by the expert committee, after her 34-year-old husband died of Covid-19 at a private hospital in Delhi on May 14. (HT Photo)

In an affidavit filed before a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh, the Delhi government said LG Anil Baijal’s decision to reject the constitution of the panel twice was “misconceived” and does not withstand the test laid by the Supreme Court while deciding the powers of the city government and the LG.

“….while clarifying the role of the LG and the elected government in the unique constitutional position of the NCT, the Supreme Court was at pains to emphasise that the LG is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers with regard to all transferred subjects. It was further noted that though the LG has the power to refer a matter to the President under the proviso to Article 239AA (4), such power cannot be exercised in any and every matter but must be exercised in the interest of the people / residents of Delhi”.

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the Delhi government, said the AAP dispensation took the decision “for the people but is not being able to implement this”.

“The government of the day has taken a decision that a maximum of ₹5 lakh of compensation, depending upon the committee report, wherever there is negligence, shall be granted. What is now taking place in Delhi is… because of this conflict which needs to be decided at the earliest … the citizen is being shortchanged. That can’t be permitted. At least from the point of view of the citizen, there should be an end to it, “ Mehra said.

The government’s affidavit came on a plea by Riti Singh Verma who demanded that all Covid-19 deaths be probed by the expert committee, after her 34-year-old husband died of Covid-19 at a private hospital in Delhi on May 14. In her petition, Verma said the death summary of her husband issued by the hospital is “doubtful” as her husband was admitted in a “not very severe condition” and had no comorbidities. As per the summary prepared by the hospital, he died of a cardiac arrest.

On May 4, the Delhi government told the Delhi high court that an expert committee could not ascertain whether 21 deaths at Jaipur Golden Hospital happened because of oxygen shortage. Later, health minister Satyendar Jain said it was a “preliminary report”.

In June, the Delhi government proposed another expert committee to ascertain the number of deaths caused by oxygen shortage in the Capital but Baijal did not approve, citing a similar committee set up by the Union government – eventually leading to a tussle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the LG, who is an appointee of the Centre.

On August 16, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia sent a file to Baijal’s office for the second time, seeking approval for setting up the expert committee and sought Union home minister Amit Shah’s intervention.

On August 20, Sisodia said the LG has once again rejected the Delhi government’s request for approval to set up the expert committee.

Responding to the petition, the Delhi government has said that there is “no reasonable and lawful justification for objecting to the constitution of the committee or to prevent its functioning on a war footing at the earliest.

It said that in two matters pending in the SC, which has been referred to by the LG while rejecting the committee, none have dealt with the grant of ex-gratia. It said that one of the suo moto matters on compensation was disposed of by the apex court asking the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to form guidelines to compensate for the losses.

“There is no gainsaying that the second wave of the pandemic has wreaked havoc in the lives of the residents of Delhi and resulted in large scale casualties. While there can be no reparation for the loss of a loved one, the attempt of the answering respondent (Delhi government), an elected government responsible to the residents of the NCT, is to provide a means to establish accountability for the deaths,” the government said.

In its response to the Sisodia’s comments on Friday, the LG office said that the claims were “misleading”, and that setting up another committee will create confusion. “Neither the LG nor the government of India has said that deaths due to oxygen shortage should not be probed. What has been said earlier on July 6, and repeated on August 19 is that a high level committee constituted as per SC directions, where apart from senior and reputed doctors, the ACS (health), the government of national capital territory of Delhi is also a member, is already looking into the matter. It has submitted its interim report and is working on the final report. The LG as well as the Union health minister have reiterated that the said committee should be allowed to do its work. Setting up another committee for the same purpose will only create confusion. The government has also been advised to follow the directions of hon’ble courts in the matter,” a senior officials at the LG’s office said on Friday.

On Monday, the court gave two weeks to the LG to file his response to the petition, and posted the matter for hearing on September 21. During the hearing, two lawyers appeared for the LG, following which the court asked them to resolve the confusion among them.

On the last date, the court asked the Delhi government to see whether ₹50,000 ex-gratia that the government promised to the family members of those who died of Covid-19 could be given to the woman.