SC adjourns hearing in suo motu case on COVID-19 crisis to May 13 after technical glitches
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, L N Rao and S Ravindra Bhat said, "Our server is down today. We judges had discussion among ourselves and have decided to take up the matter on Thursday."
FollowNew Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to May 13 the hearing on the suo motu case involving the distribution of essential supplies and services during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The virtual hearing was deferred due to some technical glitches. The top court said it will go through the Centre's compliance affidavit on vaccination and hospitalisation policies.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, L N Rao and S Ravindra Bhat said, "Our server is down today. We judges had discussion among ourselves and have decided to take up the matter on Thursday."
Justice Bhat further said that in the meantime judges will go through the Centre's compliance affidavit filed late last night and even amicus curiae in the matter will get time to go through the response.
Before the technical glitches stalled the proceeding conducted through video conferencing, Justice Chandrachud referred to a news report and said that two of the judges of the bench got the Centre's affidavit on Monday morning.
Justice Chandrachud said Justice Rao had to take the copy of affidavit from Justice Bhat in the morning as he had not received it.
"I got the affidavit late in the night but my brother judges have got it in the morning. I have even read affidavit in the media before I got it," Justice Chandrachud said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that after they filed the affidavit, they served the copy to the state and it was very difficult to know from where the media got it.
On April 30, the top court had directed the Centre to prepare a buffer stock of oxygen for emergency purposes in collaboration with states and decentralise the location of the stocks so that it is immediately available if the normal supply chain is disrupted.
It had said the emergency stocks be created within the next four days and replenished on a day-to-day basis, in addition to the existing allocation of medical oxygen supply to the states.
The Supreme Court earlier this week constituted a 12-member National Task Force of top medical experts to formulate a methodology for allocation of oxygen to states and Union territories amid several reports of shortage of the life-saving gas in many hospitals.
On the issue of treatment in hospitals, the top court had directed the Centre to formulate within two weeks a national policy on admissions to hospitals in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19.
It had also directed the Centre and the state governments to notify that any clampdown on information on social media or harassment caused to individuals seeking help on any platform will attract coercive action.
The top court had also directed the Centre to revisit its initiatives and protocols, including the availability of oxygen, availability and pricing of vaccines, and availability of essential drugs at affordable prices.
The top court has taken up issues such as the projected demand for oxygen in the country at present and in the near future, how the government intends to allocate it to "critically affected" states and its monitoring mechanism to ensure supply.
It had earlier made clear that any attempt to clamp down on the free flow of information on social media, including a call for help from people, would be treated as contempt of the court.
(With inputs from agency) Â Â
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