Gujarat HC rejects PIL challenging state govt’s decision to hand over
hospital to the private business house.
A division bench of the Gujarat high court comprising acting chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and justice JB Pardiwala rejected the PIL challenging the state government’s decision to hand over Bhuj’s government hospital to the Adani group for its medical college.
The petitioner, Adam Chaki, had submitted in his PIL that the government hospital was destroyed in the 2001 quake and rebuilt with advanced facilities using money from the Prime Minister’s rehabilitation fund. But the state government had handed it over to the Adani group on a lease of 99 years. The petitioner had demanded that the government cancel the lease for the sake of poor people. Giving details of the high court judgement, government pleader PK Jani said that the court had observed that the idea of public-private partnership is the latest concept of our time. It allows the government to retain its ownership of the hospital, Jani said.
“The high court has also accepted our contention that the income of the hospital would also be used to pay the expenses of the hospital and its upgrading. The name of the hospital would not be changed,” Jani said.
The petitioner had listed events which had allegedly exposed how the state government handed over the administration of the hospital without following any procedure, including inviting other interested parties. According to the PIL, GK General Hospital of Bhuj was rebuilt after it was destroyed in the quake of 2001.
The hospital is situated in a district that touches the border with Pakistan. The PIL further stated that the hospital had provided medical facilities and treatment during emergency situations such as quake, hurricane, flood and other natural calamities.
The government’s decision to hand over the hospital’s administration to a private party could affect the treatment offered to poor people, the PIL said. The government has spent more then Rs100 crore on the reconstruction of the hospital and had handed it over to a private group on 99 years’ lease.
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