New Delhi [India], February 21 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Monday sought a status report from Delhi Police within two days on the plea moved by a spa and wellness clinic owner.

New Delhi Feb 21 PTI The Delhi High Court Monday asked the Delhi Police to file a status report on a plea seeking to reopen a spa and wellness clinic which is being prohibited to carry out the business despite DDMAs order permitting such centres to reopen with certain conditions and restrictionsJustice V Kameswar Rao said the Delhi Police shall file the status report within two days and listed the matter for further hearing on February 28Delhi Police counsel Satyakam submitted that the spa centres where alleged sexual activities were going on will remain closed and those which are running as per the Commercial Health Trade Licence can go onThe court was hearing a petition by Sukhbir Singh who is running his spa and wellness clinic in the name of White heaven Spa and Wellness challenging the arbitrary unlawful and unjustified actions of the authorities in not allowing him to operate the centreHe claimed that he has been complying with all norms rules and regulations issued by the competent authoritiesAdvocate Rajeshwar Dagar appearing for the petitioner said unless he was allowed to open the spa centre how can the authorities conclude that any illegal activities were going on thereThe plea said the petitioner got a licence to operate the spa centre in April 2021 and in December the same year some police officials barged into the premises and forcibly took into custody all male and female staff working there allegedly cooked up a false story against themOn December 28 2021 following the order of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA the petitioner had to close down his spa business on account of COVID-19 and on February 4 this year the authorities permitted spa and wellness centres in the national capital to reopen subject to certain conditions and restrictions it saidHowever when the petitioner tried to open his spa he was stopped by the police officials on the ground that there are strict orders from the SHO of Mohan Garden that no spa shall be opened within his jurisdiction at any cost and if any spa is found opened the spa owner and the building landlord will be prosecuted and FIR shall be registered against them PTI SKV RKS RKS

New Delhi Aug 26 PTI The Delhi High Court Thursday dismissed a plea challenging AAP governments notifications reserving rooms in four hotels linked to two hospitals for treatment of officials of various public authorities and their familiesA bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said it does not find merit in the petitioners submission that the government orders were not passed by competent authoritiesThe court refused to accept the submission of the petitioners counsel that resources of the state remained unutilised due to the exclusive reservation of facilities for COVID-19 treatment of government officials and their familiesIt said the submission of petitioners counsel does not take into account the ground reality of the second wave of the pandemicAccordingly the petition is dismissed the bench saidThe court passed the order on a plea by Delhi-based doctor Kaushal Kant Mishra challenging the Delhi governments notifications reserving rooms in four hotels linked with two hospitals for COVID-19 treatment of officials of various public authorities and their familiesAccording to the Delhi governments April 27 notification 70 rooms at Hotel Ginger at Vivek Vihar 50 rooms at Hotel Park Plaza in Shahdara and 50 rooms at Hotel Leela Ambience at CBD Ground in Karkardooma linked to Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital and all the rooms in Hotel Golden Tulip at Hari Nagar linked to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital DDU are reserved for the treatment of officersofficials of Delhi government autonomous bodies corporations local bodies and their familiesMishra had also challenged various other notifications of Delhi government which was represented through advocate SatyakamThe bench while dictating some portion of the order on Wednesday had said it was not living in ivory towers and had seen the condition of the national capital during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemicThere was such a shortage of facilities including oxygen medicines hospital beds oxygenated beds ICUs doctors and paramedical staff that there was no question of any facilities remaining unutilised it has saidThe court said when there was a massive dearth of medical infrastructure during the second wave of the pandemic government officials were risking their lives on the streets to manage the situationIt said the state is obliged to provide medical facilities to all the citizens including those grinding wheels of the administration and when the pandemic was at its height there was a greater need of governance since the fire of the pandemic was raging at its peakThe bench said during the lockdown while the common citizenry were in their homes it was the government officers who were out on the streets to manage the situation and if such officers officials were to fall sick and were not to receive treatment of COVID-19 not only they but the entire citizenry of Delhi would have sufferedThe wheels of administration in the NCT of Delhi would have come to a grinding halt without this much assurance to the officials that they will receive treatment otherwise they would not have been able to discharge their duties without fear They would not have been able to give attention and focus with which they were expected to discharge their duties the bench saidWe are not living in ivory towers We were seeing what was happening in the city during the second wave on a daily basis Thousands of people were looking at the state for some relief the bench saidThe bench added In our view such officers clearly constitute a different class on account of their duties which they were required to perform during the peak of the pandemic They were required to come to duties by stepping out of the comfort of homes and they had no option to remain inside Advocate Rohan Thawani representing Mishra argued that creating such exclusive facilities for officers would violate fundamental rights including right to life and liberty of other citizens of Delhi who were seeking COVID-19 treatment but would be deprived of getting it as limited resources will be diverted for treating the officialsThe court said the submission of the counsel that the resources of the state remained unutilised due to the exclusive reservation given to the officials has no factual basisThe plea has contended that creating a classification in favour of a certain category of persons was arbitrary and unimaginable when the common man was running from pillar to post in search of oxygen bedsIt violates the right to health by diverting crucial health resources of the community away from the common citizens and in favour of already privileged government officers the petition has saidApart from setting aside the April 27 notification Mishra had also sought quashing of three Delhi government orders of last year as per which initially two dedicated hospitals and one testing laboratory were earmarked for the treatment of such officialstheir families and later the four hospitals were linked to the two government hospitals PTI SKV SA