Bombay High Court foils BMC bid to take over Global hospital

Bombay High Court foils BMC bid to take over Global hospital

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had decided to take over the multi-speciality hospital after some local politicians complained that the hospital was charging exorbitantly for some of its services.

Narsi BenwalUpdated: Thursday, July 25, 2019, 07:10 AM IST
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Bombay High Court |

Mumbai: Observing that the poor and the needy citizens of Mumbai must not suffer, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday quashed an order passed by former city civic chief, by which he had decided to take over the management of the Global hospital, Vile Parle.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had decided to take over the multi-speciality hospital after some local politicians complained that the hospital was charging exorbitantly for some of its services.

A bench of Justice Ramesh Dhanuka said the order passed by former civic chief Ajoy Mehta on October 2017 to take over the hospital by terminating the contract between Global hospital and the BMC, was “illegal”.

The BMC had in February 2002 signed an agreement with the Global hospital, wherein it had given the custody of its six-storey building to the latter for running a hospital for the needy and poor citizens. The duo had resolved to run the hospital on a ‘no-profit no-loss’ basis.

One of the major clauses of the agreement was that the BMC had asked the management to run the hospital on its own and that it would not spend a penny. The civic body had also asked it to reserve a certain percentage of beds for patients referred by the BMC to the hospital.

However, the civic body since 2011 kept on issuing showcause notices to the hospital and finally, in 2017, Mehta passed a detailed order asking the hospital management to vacate its premises within 15 days.

The hospital, subsequently, petitioned the bench of Justice Dhanuka claiming that the BMC has not given reasons for its orders, asking them to vacate the premises.

Justice Dhanuka heard the submissions made by the hospital through senior counsel Vineet Naik and senior advocate Joaquim Reis argued for the BMC.

Having heard the contentions, Justice Dhanuka said, “The petitioner is running a multi-speciality hospital for the last several years and has spent about Rs20 crore in creating it for the benefit of a large number of poor and needy patients on no profit and no loss basis. More than 500 people work here. They include doctors, staff and nurses.”

“A large number of patients are benefited by various facilities provided by the petitioner in the said hospital. In my view, the action of termination on the part of the BMC is disproportionate considering the fact that the interest of patients would suffer if a contract of this kind is abruptly terminated,” Justice Dhanuka said.

The court further said that the allegations made by the local politicians had no substance or any material to indicate any serious breach of the provisions of the agreement entered into between the parties.

The bench also trashed the objection of the BMC to the hospital collecting Rs20 crore donation as the civic body itself had agreed that it would not pay a single penny in managing the hospital.

“The impugned order passed by the civic chief (Mehta) is in gross violations of principles of natural justice and is thus quashed,” Justice Dhanuka ruled.

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