The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the contempt notice issued by Delhi High Court against the Centre for failing to provide adequate life-saving oxygen to Covid-ravaged Delhi, observing that “putting officers in jail or hauling them up for contempt will not get oxygen”.

“Let us find solutions. Let us ensure lives are saved,” a bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah said. The top court asked solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, to inform it by 10.30am on Thursday about the steps taken to augment the supply of oxygen to the national capital.

The Supreme Court and Delhi High Court had earlier directed the Centre to supply 700 metric tonnes of oxygen daily to Delhi.

The apex court said that while it was staying the contempt notice, Delhi High Court was free to hear the other issues related to the oxygen crisis.

The Supreme Court asked the Centre to place before it by Thursday a comprehensive plan on augmenting oxygen supply in a tabulated chart.

“In view of the above directions, we stay the operation of the contempt notice issued by DHC on May 4, 2021, until further orders. However, we clarify that the stay would not operate as a restrain on DHC to continue the proceedings on other aspects,” Justice Chandrachud said.

The Centre had earlier defended itself by saying that it had been able to supply over 590 metric tonnes of medical oxygen daily to Delhi since there was an acute shortage all over the country.

The special bench of Justices Chandrachud and Mehta was constituted on Wednesday after the solicitor-general requested Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana for an urgent hearing to stay the Delhi High Court contempt notice issued to the Centre.

The high court bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Mukta Gupta had on Tuesday issued the contempt notice while asking the officials responsible for non-compliance of the order to provide 700 metric tonnes of oxygen daily to Delhi to be personally present in court.

The high court had expressed anger at the fact that despite a Supreme Court order on April 30 and the Centre’s subsequent assurance in the high court on providing 700 metric tonnes of daily oxygen, the directive had not been complied with.

Mumbai model

The bench of Justices Chandrachud and Shah on Wednesday told Piyush Goyal, an official from the Union home ministry, that the Centre should try to replicate in Delhi the “model” adopted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for augmenting oxygen supply.

Mehta replied that the Centre was in touch with the BMC and had requested the civic body to send it details of the “model”.

Although Mumbai is among the places worst affected by the pandemic, there have not been reports of any major oxygen crisis.

Goyal said the Centre was taking extraordinary measures at the highest level to augment the supplies of oxygen in Delhi.

“Production is not a problem. Shortage of containers is the problem,” Goyal said.

According to solicitor-general Mehta, the Centre has a stock of 7,000 metric tonnes of oxygen for medical use, but the question is how to distribute it among the states.

“It cannot be at the sweet will of officers. What we did was (we) chalked out a mechanism,” he told the bench.

Mehta told the court that oxygen was being distributed among the states based on the advice of an expert group set up to calculate the pan-India requirement on a rational basis.