Delhi: HC seek govt's reply on pleas against converting banquet halls into COVID hospitals

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Delhi government to file its reply on three pleas challenging its decision to convert petitioners' banquet halls into temporary COVID-19 treatment hospitals. This comes after the Delhi government on Saturday issued an order to set up 1,055 beds in banquet halls and linked them to state-run hospitals as the national capital continues to witness an alarming surge in coronavirus cases.

A bench of Justice Jayant Nath asked Delhi government to file its response on the matter and listed it for further hearing on July 8.  Meanwhile, advocate Satyakam appearing for the Delhi government said that the decision was taken in view of the rise in COVID-19 cases in the national capital. The court was hearing three petitions filed by Chintpurni Overseas Private Limited, Ready Mint Private Limited, and a Community Welfare Banquet challenging the decision to convert the banquet halls owned by them into temporary COVID-19 treatment hospitals. Ready Mint is being represented by advocate Sunil Dalal and its petition has been filed through advocate Sondhi Narula Dalal.

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The plea sought to quash government order dated June 12, directing the company to grant possession of its Lavanya Banquet Hall for use as a COVID-19 treatment facility and also provide facilities like house-keeping, disinfection and catering.
The company said that the government has taken the decision without any consultation with the petitioner and without any due-diligence of the property to ascertain its suitability for being used as a temporary hospital. The petitioner company has also sought to award the cost of the present proceedings in favour of the petitioner and against the respondent government.

READ: COVID-19: Delhi govt links 1,055 beds in 8 banquet halls with state-run hospitals

Delhi Govt Links 1,055 Beds In 8 Banquet Halls 

According to the government's plan, the administration will set up 11,229 beds in 77 banquet halls to ramp up medical infrastructure to deal with the COVID-19 situation in the city. In each district, a banquet hall having more than 100 beds can be started by linking it to designated COVID-19 hospitals, the order said.

Three banquet halls each may be linked to bigger hospitals -- Lok Nayak Hospital, GTB Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi SS Hospital.

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(With Agency Inputs)