Delhi HC to hear PIL against making Lieutenant Governor chairman of DDMA in July

Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Friday said it will hear in July a PIL challenging the law making the Lieutenant Governor as the chairperson of Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) and also seeking quashing of his decision to set aside the AAP government order to hospitals to treat only bona fide residents of the national capital.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said it was not issuing notice in the matter for now and was adjourning it to July 9.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for the LG, said both the DDMA and the Delhi government were working together during the present crisis.

The petition, by advocate Dheeraj Kumar Singh, has contended that the LG as DDMA chairperson exceeded his jurisdiction by allowing residents of other states to use the resources of the national capital.

Singh, in his plea, has claimed that LG Anil Baijal's June 8 order setting aside Delhi government's June 7 direction to hospitals here, to treat only bona fide residents of the national capital, was in contravention of the provisions of the Disaster Management Act (DMA), 2005.

The petition has sought quashing of the provision in the DMA under which the LG has been made the head of the DDMA, saying that in other states and Union Territories the chief minister heads such a body.

It has also claimed that according to provisions of the DMA, the state disaster management authority has to lay down guidelines for providing relief to persons affected by a disaster and the quantum of relief cannot be less than the minimum standard laid down by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Therefore, DDMA was under "legal compulsion" to provide minimum relief, like shelter, food, drinking water, medical cover, sanitation and ex-gratia on account of loss of life or livelihood, during any disaster, including the coronavirus outbreak.

However, no such relief work has been initiated by DDMA till filing of the petition despite thousands of people dying due to COVID-19, Singh has claimed.

His petition has sought directions to DDMA to provide relief like medical cover and ex-gratia for loss of life or livelihood, as well as free or affordable treatment for Delhi residents and to take control of errant hospitals who are "acting in unethical manner by fleecing patients for treatment of coronavirus infection".

It has also sought setting up of a committee to look into steps taken by DDMA and ascertain whether it was acting as per DMA.