New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Monday said it will not tolerate the “obstructionist attitude” of authorities in relation to the implementation of the recommendations of a six-member expert committee on improving medical services in hospitals run by the city government.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Manmohan, which had earlier assigned the task of implementation to the AIIMS director, asserted that the stakeholders cannot indulge in “stonewalling” the progress and directed that a fresh meeting with city officials be called by Dr M Srinivas on October 5.
“The AIIMS chairman is saying you are sending people at the meetings who cannot take a decision. You are sending low-level officers. You are not cooperating. The problem is the matter has now entered a phase where there is nothing happening and there are only obstacles. That cannot happen.
“There is a lot of stonewalling which is going on over here,” the bench, also comprising Justice Manmeet P S Arora, told the senior counsel appearing in the court on behalf of the Delhi government.
“You are stonewalling them. That too when the court is monitoring the progress. It cannot be like this. Some officer will be pulled up and he will be sent to jail if he does this, especially with a committee which is appointed by the court,” the bench said.
The court took exception to the health secretary not personally attending a meeting convened by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director on the issue of implementation of the proposals and warned him of strict action.
The court listed the matter for hearing on October 14 and asked the AIIMS director to convene another meeting on October 5 with the officials concerned. It also asked senior advocate Sanjay Jain, who represented the Delhi government in the matter, and two other lawyers to join it.
“We want to convey a very clear message to the authorities that this obstructionist attitude will not be tolerated,” the court said.
The court had earlier formed the expert committee under Dr S K Sarin on a PIL it had initiated on its own in 2017 over the alleged lack of ICU beds and ventilators in government hospitals.
The committee has pointed out deficiencies in the medical system, including vacant posts, a shortage of critical faculty members, infrastructure, medical or surgical consumables, emergency operation theatres (OTs) and trauma services and the referral system.
On September 2, observing that “all is not well” in the city’s health department, which is witnessing a “bitter” fight between authorities, the court had asked the AIIMS director to take over the responsibility of implementing the recommendations.
“Why didn’t the health secretary go? What is the problem in the health secretary going and attending the meeting? This is getting too much. We will have to take action against the health secretary. We are mincing no words. We will pull him up. You cannot stonewall our orders. Why this obstructionist attitude?” the court asked on Monday.
“We are not mincing words, the health secretary has to be cautious, otherwise we will send him somewhere else,” it said.
The court further questioned the Delhi government on the issue of completion of new hospitals in the city and said work cannot be stalled on account of lack of funds when it is more than 80 per cent complete.
The senior counsel appearing in the matter for the Delhi government said according to estimates, some projects are in the list of “revised high-estimate value”, where further funds have to be allocated.
The court retorted that funds will have to be generated by the Delhi government and the capital cannot run on the model of freebies.
“State will have to generate funds. It is not only for freebies. You have to generate funds. You have to spend money on public welfare projects,” Chief Justice Manmohan said.
“Money will have to be generated. Funds will have to come. Everything cannot be free. If everything is free, who will run the hospitals? This is not the model on which you can run a city like Delhi,” he added.
The court also emphasised the need for timely recruitment of doctors for newly-built hospitals, saying the process itself takes more than a year and therefore, cannot be started when a hospital is 100-per cent completed.
“I cannot understand a 85 or 87-per cent project not getting completed. You cannot stop it. You have to complete it. Your cost will overrun if you stop it at this juncture,” it said.
The court observed that the Dr Sarin committee had to recuse itself since there was a “problem”, which was not appreciated, and since it seems like an issue of “egos” between various authorities, the “big people” should stay out if it and let the doctors take a call in the matter.
“There were some issues raised. We do not know who is raising it. The health minister and the health secretary are not on talking terms,” it said.
The Delhi government counsel appearing in the matter assured the court that the health minister has no problem with the AIIMS director taking over the implementation of the committee’s recommendations.
During the hearing, the court also clarified that the recommendations are now final. PTI ADS RC
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