The Supreme Court today dismissed the Centre’s appeal against a High Court order directing it to send 1,200 metric tonnes of oxygen to Karnataka.
“The Karnataka High Court order is a careful, calibrated exercise and we see no reason to entertain the Centre’s appeal,” the Supreme Court said.
The Centre had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court yesterday, challenging a High Court order that increased Karnataka’s daily liquid medical oxygen allocation from 965 to 1200 MT for COVID-19 patients.
In the plea, the Centre stated “High Court failed to consider the rationale behind allocation of certain amounts of oxygen to each State and purely on the basis of purported shortage in the city of Bangalore, passed directions which, if fulfilled, will have a cascading effect and result in the total collapse of the system in its fight against the second wave …”
It pointed out that “the entire nation is feeling the effects of the second wave (of the pandemic) and in such a situation it is imperative that limited resources available at the disposal of the entire nation (in this case, oxygen supply), be put to its most judicious use, keeping in mind the overall situation in the country. Thereby, passing directions in the nature and manner the Hon’ble High Court has done vide the impugned order dated 05.05.2021, would ultimately lead to mismanagement of resources and create a further chaotic environment in an already overburdened system”.
Meanwhile, according to data updated on Friday by the Union Health Ministry, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 2,14,91,598, with active cases crossing the 36-lakh mark.
The death toll has risen to 2,34,083, with 3,915 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours, according to data updated at 8 a.m.
The number of active cases has risen steadily to 36,45,164, accounting for 16.96% of all infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 81.95 percent.
According to the data, the number of people who have recovered from the disease has increased to 1,76,12,351, with a case fatality rate of 1.09 percent.
