Delhi HC grants Centre time to reply on plea to de-link Aarogya Setu from website promoting e-pharmacies

Justice Navin Chawla also made the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare a party to the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on June 9.

New Delhi: Delhi High Court has granted more time to the Central government and others to file a reply on a petition seeking directions to immediately de-link the Aarogya Setu app from a website which is promoting and acting as a "marketing tool" for e-pharmacies.

Justice Navin Chawla also made the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare a party to the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on June 9.

The court was hearing a petition filed by South Chemists and Distributors Association, which said that in a highly illegal, arbitrary and discriminatory manner the website promotes and acts as a marketing tool for e-pharmacies and operates despite an injunction order by court.

It said that the action to link the website "www.aarogyasetumitr.in" with Aarogya Setu app is causing grave prejudice to the petitioners and the customers are being misled to buy medicines only from e-pharmacies.

The plea said that the act is giving the impression that home delivery cannot take place from the local pharmacy stores and one has to buy medicines only from the e-pharmacies.

"The mobile application Aarogya setu, itself gives a link to website www.aarogyasetumitr.in, which gives a wrong and misleading impression to a user that the website as well as the information made available on it is also government mandated and approved," the plea said.

It said that providing a link to an external website on a government-developed mobile application amounts to giving a largess and added that the respondents cannot act in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner and allow their offices to be used for selected entities.

It said that medicines can be procured through local pharmacy stores itself and home delivered so as to ensure that social distancing is maintained during the current times.

"The criteria that to get listed as a vendor on www.aarogyasetumitr.in is that the entity should be an e-pharmacy is arbitrary, without any intelligible differentiate, wholly illegal, discriminatory and in violation of Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India," the plea read.

ANI Report