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Updated April 27th, 2021 at 22:05 IST

Gautam Gambhir fires salvo at Kejriwal as Delhi HC lambasts 'special COVID facility' order

BJP MP Gautam Gambhir hit out at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal after the HC rejected the allocation of a 5-star hotel as a COVID-19 centre exclusively for judges.

Reported by: Akhil Oka
Gautam Gambhir
ANI/PTI | Image:self
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On Tuesday, BJP MP Gautam Gambhir hit out at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal after the HC rejected the allocation of a 5-star hotel as a COVID-19 centre exclusively for judges. The order of Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Chanakyapuri) Geeta Grover to convert 100 rooms of the Ashoka Hotel for setting up a COVID-19 health facility for the use of judges, other judicial officers and their families had attracted a lot of criticism. Alleging that the lies of AAP have been exposed, Gambhir contended that Kejriwal doesn't care about the common person.

Speaking to ANI, the ex-opening batsman commented, "Arvind Kejriwal cannot handle Delhi. Last year, he had given up and even this time, he has given up. There is no oxygen, oxygen tanker, beds and COVID-19 centres". Weighing in on the HC's observation in another case pertaining to the distribution of medical oxygen, he maintained that the AAP supremo has done only advertising. Challenging him to reveal what his government has delivered in the last year, Gambhir demanded his apology to the people of the national capital. Dubbing his governance as an "absolute failure", he stated that the people of Delhi are dying. 

Delhi HC takes umbrage at Ashoka Hotel order

Earlier in the day, the division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli denied having made any request to the AAP government for using the Ashoka Hotel. Slamming the Arvind Kejriwal-led government for passing orders right, left and centre, it asked, "Can we as an institution say that create a special facility for us? Will this not be blatantly discriminatory that people can’t get treatment and there is a facility in a five-star hotel for us?" Questioning whether this was an attempt to appease the court, it also rejected the Delhi government's counsel Rahul Mehra's argument that the media played a mischievous role in interpreting the order. The court stressed that it was the order and not the media that was wrong.

Observing that it is unthinkable that the Delhi HC as an institution will want any preferential treatment, it noted that advocate Santosh Tripathi has accepted notice on behalf of the Delhi government and wishes to file a reply. Warning that the HC will quash the order if it is not withdrawn, it listed this matter for hearing on April 29. At present, there are 92,358 active novel coronavirus cases in the national capital while 9,40,930 patients have been discharged and 14,628 deaths were reported.

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Published April 27th, 2021 at 22:05 IST

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