Delhi High Court on Monday criticised the drug controller for not properly examining as to how BJP MP Gautam Gambhir procured a huge quantity of the Covid-19 drug Fabiflu.

“You (drug controller) can’t take us for a ride. If you think we are so gullible, so naive, we are not,” a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said.

The high court said its confidence in the drug controller has been “shaken completely” and rejected as “trash” its status report on the inquiry into procurement of the medicine by cricketer-turned-politician Gambhir.

The high court took strong exception to the drug controller’s report, which concluded that the dealers had ample stock to supply to others, and said everyone knows that the medicine was in short supply and while Gambhir bought thousands of strips of the medicine, other people who needed it could not get it on that day.

“Please don’t tell us there is no shortage. We know there was a shortage. You don’t have to swallow the report. You have to question your officers. You (drug controller) are wrong to say it was not in short supply…. You better do your job. If you can’t do your job, tell us, we will have you suspended and let someone else do your job,” the bench said.

It also pulled up Gambhir for again making a statement that he will continue to do such work. “We have already said it is a malpractice. This tendency of people trying to take advantage and then trying to appear as a saviour when they themselves created the problem, has to be denounced. And then the person goes on to state he would do it again. If it continues, we know how to deal with it,” it said.

“Thousands of strips he is obtaining. On the day people needed it, they were not able to buy it….”