[LIVE UPDATES] Delhi High Court hears petitions dealing with issues arising out of COVID-19

The Delhi High Court is hearing petitions highlighting the issues arising out of COVID-19 management in the national capital.Hearing to take place before Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli.Live Thread.We've come across an order granting bail.. we'll point out the lacuna: Advocate Praveen K Sharma mentions. We're not going to look to bail ... scrutinize the judgment: Court.Sharma says a note on oxygen concentrators has been given..We understand that Surpreme Court matter is not there. If all parties are here, we can take it : Court.Senior Adv Rahul Mehra says matter may be taken up Monday. If there is anything urgent..else we'll take it up on Monday: Court Amicus Rajshekhar Rao raises issue of plasma. People who want to donate are also not able to donate : Rao.Court asks Mehra to look into it. The whole process is long drawn.. there are reports that probably plasma therapy is counter productive. ICMR may clarify the position: Mehra .If ICMR gives go ahead, we would be happy to do it on war footing : Mehra .ICMR has been quite indifferent.. to our orders : Court.Adv Nidhi Mohan Parashar says affidavit on videos creating awareness have been placed on record by ICMR as directed by court. We'll take it up after board is over : Court.On Imran Hussain issue: Delhi government has not allocated any oxygen nor have the refillers provided to Imran Hussain: Mehra .Has the affidavit been circulated? : Court to Mehra I'll be filing it with the registry: Standing counsel Sanjay Lao.Why was govt of NCT directed to file? Because PWD truck was delivering oxygen to Jeetender Tomar. The affidavit doesn't talk about it.. : adv Amit Tiwari.The matter is not a fishing and roving enquiry.. file a proper complaint and we will file : Mehra.This is Imran Hussain and that's the end of that : Court I'll file a seperate application: Tiwari.In terms of earlier order, the amicus has done scrutiny of documents...it appears that he had taken 10 cylinders on rent and got them refilled for a refiller on which invoices were raised : Court records..Court takes on record Delhi govt's stand. In the light of the aforesaid, we are not inclined to proceed any further: Court.He is a sitting cabinet minister. Such applications are causing embarrassment...kindly see that it takes away the spirit of service.. there should be a deterrence: Mehra.You can't put fear in the minds of people who want to raise complaints: Court.Mehra says this is political vendetta. Have I said anything on social media : Tiwari Courts would not entertain such Petitions for registration of FIR.. they have to first go to the Magistrate. Short circuiting for political motive can't be allowed: Mehra.Only one political party is before the Court.. : Mehra.I have no affiliation: Tiwari People in my constituency are deprived of my good efforts. My name was on front page of newspapers: Senior Adv Vikas Pahwa for Imran Hussain.If you're doing something good, please do it. We've not stopped you : Court We can't stop people from coming to court : Court.The petition did not even have independent evidence.. no onus, no responsibility: Pahwa.In future, let him do an independent inquiry.. there are people doing good jobs : Pahwa.Court asks lawyers to stop arguing..Virag Gupta who has also filed a petition alleging hoarding by politicians says he has moved an impleadment application..Application is to make Delhi Police a party..We are not related to any political party...we have not deleted CBI yet from party : Gupta.Just the way cabinet minister was summoned, let those persons (named in Gupta's Petition) also come before my lord : Mehra.We direct deletion on CBI. In case at a later stage this court is inclined to direct investigation, CBI will be impleaded : Court.Adv Anurag Ahluwalia for ICMR: We've filed various responses..Feluda was being developed by CSIR and marketing was by Tata : Ahluwalia.Why is it Feluda was not picked up as RTPCR when it is cheaper and faster : Court As an officer of the Court, Kit of RTPCR is Rs. 100.. Feluda was used in Maharashtra and Kumbh. Feluda testing kit is Rs 300: Ahluwalia.Delhi govt can do that whoever can afford can take Feluda..if persons are willing to pay : Court.100%: Ahluwalia This should be propagated.. when ICMR has thr power to put seal of approval, it should also have a publicity wing to inform the public. You seem to be lacking in this regard: Court.Feluda was approved by DCGI (Drug controller) and not ICMR. We issued the advisory.. that all labs having RTPCR capability.. feluda doens't require lab also: Ahluwalia.Dr Anurag Agarwal has joined from CSIR. Total time taken in manual format is 1.5 hours: Agarwal as he explains how test works..Regarding Kumb, 35k tests were done.. samples don't need to be sent in Feluda : Agarwal.The closer you take them to people, faster the turnaround. You don't waste time in shipping the sample: Agarwal.In Feluda, you need special paper and amplification. Unless India starts producing, it's not gonna come below 250...it becomes commercially unviable: Agarwal.You require almost nothing. It needs to be seen in holistic aspect of increasing capacity.. recurring cost is there.. : Agarwal.Special mechanism need to be devised.. there is some demand from States.. : Agarwal.Private companies need fixed orders...those things are possibly hard to do: Agarwal.The equipment and material for RTPCR is imported? : Court Machines are imported...the kit is 95% indigenous...in Feluda, expect paper strip, everything is indigenous: Agarwal.It will never be as cheap as a RTPCR test.. capital expenditure for setting up lab for Feluda is cheaper than RT PCR, says Agarwal.Efficacy is the same? That's the main question : Court There is something called limit of detection..for RTPCR is below 10. For Feluda is 50-100 copies. It is practically as efficient as RTPCR. But someone with CT 31-33, efficiency (by Feluda) is 25-30% : Agarwal.We have sent out letters to all chief secretaries of all States reminding them about this technology : Agarwal.We are passing all contacts to Tata..: Agarwal.GNCTD in December was to start Feluda test : Rao.Ray test is an advancement on Feluda to pick up the variants.. my Institute paid homage to Satyajit Ray: Agarwal.We have applied with ICMR ... first Feluda picks up, Ray will. : Agarwal.If we want early warning system for States, Feluda + Ray is an efficient system: Agarwal.Delhi govt did testing... initial order was sent.. hospitals were to place the orders. Possibly, in January the urgency of procurement was not sufficiently realised : Agarwal.Two of our hospitals did undertake this exercise.. tests that were conducted had a lot of false positives .. because of it not being very reliable, we did away with Feluda and continued with RTPCR. It wasn't because of costs: Mehra.Feluda takes 45 mins. In RTPCR machine can test 24-96 samples at one time : Satyakam.It is entirely something I'm no.t personally aware of : Agarwal.It is not difficult to increase no of samples for parallel testing.. I've always highlighted that it is bringing tests to Centre.. : Agarwal.What is false positive in one, is false negative in another: Agarwal.Ahluwalia shares minutes of meeting between Delhi govt and ICMR in December 2020..Court asks what happened after the meeting. It was agreed what tests having RTPCR tech should not be distributed, says Anurag.The ball is really in your court, Mr Mehra...this may not required in case of lockdown.. if this were to be deployed in market areas in relevant time.. : Court At least for future when you reopen.. we can't be in this mode all the time: Court.It's not only about now, we're also giving views about future: Court We'll file a detailed a reply : Mehra.Court says people are scared this time. We have very short memory: Mehra People have lost near and dear ones : Court.In the next phase children are going to be affected as they are left out.. although in India lots are left out : Mehra.I hope all can get vaccinated fast : Court.The chain is the as strong as the weakest link: Stayakam.We have to address it as a nation : Mehra.If your results show feluda is not as reliable, you have to put it back to them : Court.Maybe ICMR needs to reissue.. : Court.We'll place all that before this court : Satyakam.The aspect is about your publicity material: Court We've filed a detailed affidavit... we've put the material across : Ahluwalia.Ahluwalia takes the court through the affidavit..So you've put everything here.. we're talking of dissemination of information. The format is not very condusive: Court.We've given 60-90 sec clips of Dr Guleria answering the queries that can be there : Ahluwalia.Links are given (on YouTube).. certain celebrities have also been roped in.. we're putting it on various Twitter handles : Ahluwalia.Brochures are on Twitter handles, chat groups: Ahluwalia All this is in English? : Court The website (my gov) is in more than 8 different languages: Ahluwalia.This is already in place.. any State who wants to take it, can publisize it : Ahluwalia.Audio visual by Dr Guleria should be broadcasted on regular basis on national channels.. for print, it is localised. Delhi govt should disseminate that info. Audio-visual, centre should pick it up: Court.ICMR has done it's job. We would like if you were to engage a team of producers and experts on how to make it more people friendly: Court.Last year we had a lot of propoganda on wash your hands, wear masks.. that should be there: Court.ICMR should come out with more literature: Court.Once the advisory on using oxygen concentrators comes in, we'll come with guidelines on usage: Ahluwalia.Court says centre needs to act fast on this aspect..Too much use of oxygen can turn you blue.. somebody should be there to tell you: Court as it notes that people are not aware of how to properly administer oxygen. Our DGHS said people should not be allowed to take oxygen at home, says Satyakam.Now everyone should be brought back to hospital again.. It was essential when things were terrible... Now since beds are available, people should be encouraged to go back to the system: Mehra.All this publicity has to be done by State : Court.Mehra agrees. We'll do that : Mehra.Rao says efforts have to be made by the government to reach out to people. Everyone makes 5-10 calls a day.. : Rao as he suggests making critical message as caller tunes..Please have more of them (caller tunes). People should hear new ones: Court.Ahluwalia says he'll take up the issues of people outreach, dialer tones and doordarshan with the officers..You can use TV anchors.. prepare 5-10 mins programs.. : Court Mr Bachchan will be more than happy.. : Mehra This is our opportunity to give him more visibility: Court.Court suggests having celebrity interviews with doctors. You need to do it fast. You report on Tuesday: Court.There are no pending applications with ICMR to set up new labs for RTPCR tests: Ahluwalia.Ahluwalia says the approval process is very simple..The moment we get application, we are approving in 24 hours after getting all necessary documents: Ahluwalia.We have 103 labs in Delhi.. : Ahluwalia.Mr Rao, it should be possible to verify if these labs are working and even drop Google pin : Court.It (drop pin) should ideally be done by Google .. : Rao Process in on for beds, refillers.. we're in touch with one of Google Executive: Mehra.I'll look into it...what can be done : Mehra Volunteers can help in verification : Court.Court discusses how to use Mohalla clinics..Ahluwalia suggests using Mohalla clinics for RAT tests..Court raises issues of labs being made to upload a lot of patient data..The form has been revised. Basic information is being asked... only aadhar is needed, they take picture: Ahluwalia.We ask where are you right now because Aadhar info may not be updated : Ahluwalia.Labs may give suggestions and I will take it to my officers: Ahluwalia.RWAs are creating banks.. these cylinders have to be certified. Somebody has to tell them how to check..these are inflammable substances : Rao.Parashar for centre says CNG cylinders can't be used for oxygen purposes..To prevent accidents, you need to inform people. All this info has to given by PESO : Court

[LIVE UPDATES] Delhi High Court hears petitions dealing with issues arising out of COVID-19

Related Stories