New Delhi: In a major development, the Supreme Court today constituted a 12-member national task force to ensure scientific distribution of oxygen to the States.
The task force will be assigned wit formulating a methodology for the “scientific allocation of medical oxygen” to states and Union Territories (UTs) during the pandemic.
The national taskforce would be at liberty to draw upon the human resources of the Union government for consultation and information. It would also be free to formulate its modalities and procedure for working, a bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice MR Shah said while issuing the order.
The apex court said that the Cabinet Secretary will be convenor of national task force to facilitate public health response to COVID-19 pandemic.
The rationale for constituting a task force at the national level is to facilitate a public health response to the pandemic based on scientific and specialised knowledge, it added.