Thread by @barandbench

Delhi High Court will today continue hearing petitions to deal with issues arising out of #COVID19 in the national capital.

Hearing to take place before Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli.

#DelhiCOVID19

@CMODelhi @LtGovDelhi

We've come across an order granting bail.. we'll point out the lacuna : adv Praveen K Sharma mentions.

We're not going to look to bail ... scrutinize the judgement: Court

#OxygenConcentrators

#DelhiHighCourt

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

#Plasma

If ICMR gives go ahead, we would be happy to do it on war footing : Mehra

#COVID19

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 govt has not allocated any oxygen nor have the refillers provided to Imran Hussain: Mehra

@ImranHussaain

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

@ImranHussaain

He is a sitting cabinet minister. Such applications are causing embarassment...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 @ImranHussaain

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 ICMR.

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 not 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

Correction: Anurag Agarwal was from CSIR and not ICMR.

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 drip Google pin : Court

Drop*

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

Hearing adjourned.

Matter to be taken up next on Monday.

"Not inclined to proceed any further," says Delhi High Court as Delhi govt informs no oxygen supply made to MLA Imran Hussain from quota

report by @aditi2118

#OxygenCylinders #DelhiHighCourt

@ImranHussaain @AamAadmiParty

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