Savvy Thakur
Published on: October 30, 2022 at20:22 IST
The Prayagraj Hospital, which is curr:ently the subject of controversy for allegedly giving a 32-year-old dengue patient Mosambi (sweet lime) juice instead of platelets, has been put on hold by the Allahabad High Court for six weeks.
One Malati Devi, who owns the land and property on which the Hospital is currently operating, was granted permission by the bench of Justices Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Vikas Budhwar to file an objection to the demolition notice sent by the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) within two weeks.
The petitioner filed a writ petition challenging the demolition notice she received, and the court granted this order.
The Case in Brief
According to the petitioner, Malati Devi, she had purchased a piece of land, built a house on top of it, and leased 18 rooms and two shops to Mr. Shyam Narayan, who runs a hospital under the name and style of Global Hospital. This agreement was signed on February 10, 2021.
She also said that the Chief Medical Officer of Prayagraj sealed the tenant’s hospital because of some mistakes. On October 21, 2022, she got a notice from the Zonal Officer of the PDA that said an order to tear down the house was made on January 11, 2022.
The notice mentioned that the building in question was built without a map that had been approved by the authorities.
She has argued, however, in her plea to the Court, that she has not received any notice or demolition order.
She also claims that she built on the in question land at a time when the area was outside the purview of the Prayagraj Development Authority and there was no approved map of the in question property.
However, she stated in front of the Court that, in accordance with Section 32 of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973, she is prepared and willing to compound any illegal structure if given the opportunity.
The Order of the Court
As a result, the High Court allowed her to file an objection with a map of the house in question and all of her complaints within two weeks of the PDA.
The Court has stipulated that the PDA must verify the objection in accordance with the PDA’s bylaws if she files it within the stipulated time frame along with a map of the house in question.
After giving the petitioner a reasonable opportunity to be heard, including the opportunity to submit a compounding application in the event that the construction is found to be compoundable in accordance with the law, the PDA has been given further instructions to investigate the petitioner’s objection and issue an appropriate order in accordance with the law within the next four weeks.
The Court also said that the PDA can proceed in accordance with the law if any part of the construction is found to be uncompoundable.
The Court added, “No coercive action shall be taken by the respondents against the petitioner either pursuant to the demolition notice/order dated 11.01.2022 or pursuant to the impugned sealing notice dated 19.10.2022 for a period of six weeks or until the order as aforesaid is passed by respondent No.2, whichever is earlier.”
It should be noted that on October 20, it was discovered that the Global Hospital had allegedly transfused Mosambi Juice rather than blood platelets to a dengue patient who later passed away.
However, in contrast to what his family claims, the Prayagraj District Magistrate asserts that the patient was given platelets “stored in an improper way” and not sweet lime juice.