Delhi District Court (Saket): While hearing the bail application of 4 accused in oxygen concentrators hoarding case, the bench comprising of Arun Kumar Garg J, granted bail to 4 accused persons including Matrix Limited CEO Gaurav Khanna, Satish Sethi, Gaurav Suri and Vikrant.
The Court ordered the accused to furnish Personal Bond and Surety Bond in sum of Rs. 50,000/- each to the satisfaction of Ld.Duty MM (SE) with the condition that
“the accused shall not directly or indirectly try to influence the witnesses, shall not in any manner temper with the evidence and shall join the investigation as and when directed by the IO. Bail Bonds not furnished.”
The Court also noted that
“despite repeated directions by High Court of Delhi, the Government is not coming forward to cap the price of essential medical devices and nor any regulation has been made by the Government for sale of the same by the importers to the Government for its equitable distribution to the needy persons for reasons best known to the Government. Mere booking of the manufacturers/importers under the criminal law without a regulatory regime in place and without any evidence just to show that the state is concerned about the problems of citizens in procurement of life saving medical devices, in my considered opinion, will be counter-productive and shall create a further scarcity of already scarce medical devices as it will discourage the manufacturers and importers from pushing their resources so as to make the essential medical devices available to the needy citizens.”
However, the Court also mentioned that they do not have any sympathy with the black marketers and hoarders of the essential medicines/medical devices, but the vacuum in the law needs to be filled up by the legislature or for that matter by the executive by issuing appropriate regulations in pursuance to the powers delegated by the legislation to the executive.
The Court also felt the need of invoking the provisions of Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of the Essential Commodities Act, 1980 by the State if the state wants to stop the black-marketing.[Vikrant v. State, Bail Matter No. 12226/2021, Order dated May 12, 2021]