HC asks Delhi government to comply with order to regulate online path lab

The Delhi High Court on Friday said that it expects the AAP government to order and follow the judicial order.

The High Court, which was hearing a petition alleging not complying with its order in this regard, also demanded from the AAP government to know whether its disease laboratories and hospitals were accredited by NABL.

Pleaded not to comply with the court’s order of August 6, 2020, to take action against illegal online healthcare aggregators operating in Delhi and to regulate online pathological labs.

“Something is wrong with the process. Do you have your own laboratories and hospitals NABL [National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories] is recognized? This is a very fundamental question.

Additional Permanent Advocates of Delhi Government Sanjoy Ghosh and Urvi Mohan said that the government has issued a notification informing all the laboratories that they will have to follow the order of the Supreme Court.

The apex court had on 8 April 2020 directed that COVID-19 tests should be conducted in NABL accredited laboratories or any agency approved by WHO or ICMR.

The High Court gave the Delhi government time to give directions on the issue and listed the matter for further hearing on 12 March.

“I hope you will keep things in order otherwise we will have to issue a contempt notice and close all our establishments. Find some solution and keep things in the interregnum, “Justice Waziri observed verbally.

Advocate Shashank Dev Sudhi, representing petitioner Rohit Jain submitted that while online pathological labs are not accredited, they are still undergoing COVID-19 testing. He said that there are no accredited labs and not even approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The High Court had earlier asked the Delhi government to initiate contempt proceedings against top government officials and others and for not following an order and regulating the online pathological lab.

The petitioner has sought contempt action against Delhi’s Chief Secretary, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Director General of Health Services and ICMR for allegedly not complying with the previous year’s order of the High Court.

Sudhi submitted that online aggregators like ‘Aggregator’ and ‘1mg’ are working illegally in Delhi. He claimed that these online aggregators are playing with the lives of common people and should be banned.

The petition claimed that the government had failed to comply with the court’s order by not taking appropriate legal action against the online health aggregators despite the guidelines.

It is alleged that the officers are equally responsible for curbing the illegal practices of online aggregators, who in the eyes of these officers completely violate the rules and regulations outlined by the rules and regulations and issued from time to time. Are carried out under the guidelines made since the fatal COVID-19 outbreak.

It stated that many illegal online aggregators are advertising freely by offering attractive packages for body check-ups, including testing for COVID-19 via SMS or various online modes, and said that the petitioner should Advertisements from online aggregators have been received via e-mail for testing.

On August 6, 2020, the High Court directed the AAP government to take action as per law against illegally running online healthcare aggregators without any registration, after hearing all stakeholders.

The direction came while disposing of a PIL seeking to ban allegedly illegal online healthcare aggregators from collecting clinical samples for testing for COVID-19 infection.