Chandigarh, May 4
The BJP-led Haryana Government today pleaded before the Punjab and Haryana High Court that patients were gasping for breath as some of its proposals on augmenting oxygen supply were pending with the Centre, compelling the Bench to issue a reminder that health was a State subject. Read the Constitution, the Bench suggested.
Read constitution
Health is a state subject and we are all governed by the Constitution… Open the book… We cannot add anything to the Constitution. High Court Bench
The Bench asserted that lives were being lost and there was complete chaos after the State counsel submitted there was shortage of tankers. PSA generators could not be procured by the State as the entire control was with the Centre. The Government of India (GoI) allowed and approved the purchases. Even the installation was done by them. The State also pleaded for additional oxygen supply from the Panipat plant, adding that their demand would be met if it was allowed to get it from there. Both the States and the UT also submitted that their pleas for the supply of additional ventilators, too, were pending with the GoI.