Delhi HC issues notice in plea alleging non-compliance of order directing Delhi Govt to publish COVID-19 testing data

The Delhi High Court today issued notice in an application alleging that the Delhi Government had failed to comply with the Court's direction on regular publication of data concerning COVID-19 testing. (Rakesh Malhotra vs NCT of Delhi).Notice to the Delhi Government was issued by a Division Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad. .The application was preferred by Sanjeev Sharma in a petition which was disposed of last month with a direction to the Delhi Government to ensure that the samples for COVID-19 tests were processed and reports were forwarded within a period of 24-48 hours..Ensure that results of COVID-19 test samples are forwarded within a period of 24-48 hours: Delhi HC directs State Govt.The Government was also directed to update its website on a regular basis to reflect the correct number of tests that were being conducted, alongwith the number of cases that were positive or negative..The Applicant contended that instead of following the court's order, the Delhi Government introduced more restrictive norms as it prohibited the testing of asymptomatic persons and resorted to lesser testing..Relying on media reports, the Applicant also contended that many patients were not able to even find beds in hospitals for treatment of COVID-19. .Th Applicant has alleged that the data on the Delhi Government's app was incorrect and mismatched with the ground reality of hospital vacancies..The Applicant has contended that the denial of testing and non-availability of beds was in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India..Since the issue of testing of asymptomatic patients was already pending consideration before the Chief Justice's Bench, the Court decided to not address any relief with respect to the same..It, however, directed the Delhi Government to file its response with regards the other concerns of treatment for patients in hospitals, the status of vacancy of beds and publication of data on testing. .Read the Order: