Administrators appointed by the Supreme Court will continue to manage the functioning of the multi-specialty Lilavati Hospital at Bandra Reclamation.
MUMBAI: Administrators appointed by the Supreme Court will continue to manage the functioning of the multi-specialty Lilavati Hospital at Bandra Reclamation. “Unless the disputes between the trustees are resolved or finally settled by the court, this arrangement (of administrators) will continue,” the Bombay High Court ruled in an ad-interim order on Saturday.
Former HC judge AA Halbe and Dr Narendra Trivedi were appointed joint-administrators of the hospital following legal disputes within the Mehta family, which set up the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust to manage the hospital in 1978. The fight for the control of the hospital is largely between the families of two Mehta brothers — Vijay, the current managing trustee and CEO of the hospital, and his younger brother Kishor.
In September 2007, a city civil court had dismissed a suit filed by permanent trustee, Charu Mehta (Kishor’s wife), against Vijay Mehta and other trustees challenging an April 29, 2006, resolution to stop her from acting without the authority of the board and to prevent her husband and two sons, Prashant and Rajiv, from entering the hospital. The court had also rejected the contention that Kishor, Rajiv and Prashant are trustees of the hospital.
On Saturday, the HC while hearing the appeal against the September 2007 order, refused to stay the lower court order or its findings. Rejecting the plea to revert the management of the hospital’s affairs to the board of trustees, Justice Abhay Oka reiterated the apex court’s observation that the persisting bitter disputes between the trustees could affect the smooth functioning of the hospital and research centre.
“The reports submitted by the administrators suggest that the hospital is running smoothly. It should continue do so during the pending status of the appeal,” the judge said. The judge also refused the plea to expedite the hearing of the appeal stating that no case for granting priority to the case was made out by the parties.
The HC also refused to delve into the allegations made by Justice Halbe regarding mis-management of funds by the board of trustees. The judge noted that the trustees have filed an application in the SC seeking removal of Justice Halbe as the hospital’s administrator alleging bias.
m_anshika@dnaindia.net
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