The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court issued a notice Monday seeking the response from a Rajkot-based company, Jyoti CNC Automation Limited, after the state government submitted that the firm had not repaired or replaced the 34 “dysfunctional ventilators” it had supplied to the Marathwada region.
The division bench of Justices Ravindra V Ghuge and Avinsh G Gharote was hearing a suo motu PIL based on news reports, to address issues pertaining to Covid management in Marathwada and North Maharashtra. In May, the court had taken cognizance of the issue after chief public prosecutor (CPP) DR Kale, representing state government, submitted 113 of the 150 ventilators supplied by the Centre to the GMCH Aurangabad were found “defective” by government and private hospitals in Marathwada.
On Monday, Kale informed the bench the Marathwada region had received 250 ventilators of the ‘Dhaman-III’ model from Jyoti CNC in batches of 100 and 150. After the court’s intervention and the Centre’s assurance, he said, 41 ventilators from the batch of 150 were repaired by the manufacturer, however, seven were still “defective”.
Kale also said the firm showed “total apathy” over the ventilators that were a part of the batch of 100. He added that 27 of these machines, supplied in January to government hospitals in Latur and Ambajogai (in Beed), could not be used during the second Covid-19 wave due to “defects”.
The court sought the company be included as a party to the PIL and posted the hearing to July 5.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/bombay-hc-seeks-rajkot-based-firms-response-on-defective-ventilators-supplied-to-marathwada-hospitals-7380158/
