High Court puts stay on bulldozing UP hospital accused of ‘platelets-Mosambi juice’ controversy

Prayagraj Development Authority ordered the demolition of a private hospital, which was recently accused of laxity and sealed following the death of a dengue patient

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Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court on Friday, October 28, 2022, stayed the Prayagraj Development Authority's order for the demolition of a private property which was let out for running a hospital, which was recently charged with laxity and sealed following the death of a dengue patient. The family of the patient had alleged sweet lime juice was transfused to the patient instead of platelets. The district authorities dismissed the allegation but said the platelets transfused to the patient were stored in an improper way. A bench comprising Justice S P Kesarwani and Justice Vikas Budhwar passed the order on a writ petition filed by the owner of the property, Malati Devi.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that she has let out 18 rooms along with two shops to one Shyam Narayan at a rent of Rs 50,000 per month for 10 years. Narayan operates Global Hospital. The counsel also submitted that on account of certain lapses by the aforesaid tenant, his hospital has been sealed by the Chief Medical Officer, Prayagraj.

For the first time, the petitioner received a notice dated October 19 on October 21 from the zonal officer of the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) in which it is mentioned that an order for demolition of the house was passed on January 11, 2022, whereas neither any notice nor any order of demolition had been received by her.

It has been stated that the construction over the land in question was made by the petitioner at the time when the area in question was not within the limits of the PDA and as such there was no sanctioned map of the property.

The counsel submitted that the petitioner is ready and willing for compounding illegal structure, if any, as per Section 32 of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973 provided a reasonable opportunity is given to her.

The court observed, "In view of the statement made by the learned counsel for the respondent, we do not find any good reason to keep the writ petition pending and to call for counter affidavit."

"For all the reasons aforestated, this writ petition is disposed of giving liberty to the petitioner to file an objection within two weeks before the respondent raising all her grievances, along with a map of the house in question," the court said.

The court directed that for a period of six weeks or till the order as aforesaid is passed by the respondent whichever is earlier, no coercive action shall be taken by the respondents against the petitioner either pursuant to the demolition notice/ order or pursuant to the impugned sealing notice.

After a video claiming that sweet lime juice was transfused to the patient instead of platelets went viral on social media, the district administration swung into action and the hospital was sealed on October 20. The patient, Pradeep Pandey, was shifted to another hospital, where he died after his condition deteriorated.

Prayagraj District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri has said the report of the sample collected from the hospital revealed that platelet, and not sweet lime juice, was transfused to the patient. He, however, charged Global Hospital with laxity in the transfusion process, saying the reports showed the platelets were stored in an improper way which might have led to clotting.