Apex overreach

SC task force for oxygen supply is ill-judged

The Supreme Court’s decision to constitute a 12-member “National Task Force” to streamline and ensure the “effective and transparent” distribution of liquid medical oxygen to states and Union Territories is a well-meaning but ill-judged attempt to address this vexed question. It is undeniable that the Central government has failed to find a workable solution to the problem of oxygen delivery among states so that too many Covid-19 patients have tragically died simply for want of oxygen. But convening a task force under its own aegis amounts to judicial over-reach and, more to the point, is unlikely to prove more effective.

This much is already clear from the suo motu case registered by the Supreme Court in late April to examine pandemic management in the country. Many choice and acid observations have been issued from the three-member Bench since. But none of this has done much to radically alter the situation of widespread shortages of hospital beds, testing kits, medicine, vaccinations and general mayhem that confronts India’s hapless citizenry fighting the pandemic. Improvements in some states aside, a general galvanisation of the Raisina Hill machinery by the diktats of the apex court is yet to be seen.

Several questions arise from this apex court-driven exercise. The Supreme Court has said it is unhappy with the “rough and ready” oxygen allocation formula based on the number of ICU/non-ICU beds, which ignored the fact that many Covid-19 patients could not get beds or were being treated at home. This is a valid objection. But it is unclear how this task force, which comprises mostly entrepreneur-doctors who run some of India’s largest private health care chains in urban areas, and some medical academics, can help. All of them may be leaders in their specialised fields. But running a large hospital or specialising in epidemiology is not quite the same as understanding the specific logistic challenges involved in oxygen supply in Indian towns and villages, which involves coordination with the manufacturing sector and varied transport networks. There is some measure of realisation of the limitations of these experts, so the bureaucracy also finds representation. The secretary, ministry of health, has been drafted in as an ex-officio member and the cabinet secretary will be the convener of the national task force.

But even assuming some brilliant and novel ideas emerge from this task force, it is uncertain whether the government will implement them, or precisely how the Supreme Court can enforce their implementation. The Centre has already signalled its reluctance to abide by the apex court’s interventions and orders in the suo motu case. On Sunday, it filed an affidavit on the Supreme Court’s pronouncement on the differential vaccine pricing policy, stating that any “overzealous, though well-meaning judicial intervention may lead to unforeseen and unintended consequences”. In any case, the experience of the Supreme Court straying into executive territory has not gone well in the past. The cancellation of telecom licences and iron ore mining licences has done much to diminish two of India’s once booming sectors. That said, there is no reason for the government to deny itself the benefit of experience of states such as Maharashtra and Kerala, which have had some success in managing the pandemic. In its self-assumed advisory capacity, this might have been the best advice the Supreme Court could have offered.