NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday informed the Delhi High Court that pricing authority NPPA has initiated the process to fix a formula to determine the MRP of oxygen concentrators, needed for COVID-19 treatment, as people were being charged exorbitantly.
The process for fixing the formula for MRP is likely to be concluded and the court will be informed about the development on May 31, the Centre said. A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh asked the Centre’s counsel to take instructions and file a report before May 31.
Justice Sanghi observed that the pricing formula was important as most of the manufacturers were not putting MRP or maximum retail price on oxygen concentrators and are not readily available in shops. "It is not that it is available at Khan Market, it is through back door only that people have been able to secure oxygen concentrators," he said.
In a lighter vein, Justice Singh added "This time, it was available only at Khan Market", after which those present in the virtual court room burst into laughter.
High court suggests ICMR to relook RT-PCR advisory
The HC suggested to the ICMR that it may need to re-look its recent advisory which said RT-PCR must not be repeated on an individual who tested positive by either Rapid Antigen Test or RT-PCR. Justice Rekha Palli asked the counsel for ICMR to take instructions on the issue saying “maybe you need to re-look your advisory”.
The suggestion by the court came while hearing a plea by a lawyer who has challenged the advisory as due to it, neither he nor his family members could get tested again after spending more than 17 days in quarantine from April 28 when they first tested positive.