HC directs hospital to demolish 5 floors built without permission

Its application for regularisation is pending.

A division bench comprising RMT Teeka Raman and Justice PD Audikesavalu, on accounting for the findings on two crucial aspects – the date of completion of the unauthorised construction as on July 1, 2007 as well as the failure to submit the application for regularisation immediately within the time frame, said: “It necessarily gives to the inference that the plea to await the outcome of application for regularisation is only a desperate bid to somehow protract the eventual demolition of the unauthorised construction so as to enjoy the illegal gains indefinitely at the risk of public safety, which cannot be countenanced.”

Rejecting the plea, the judges said they were convinced that there was no justification to defer the demolition of the fourth to eighth floors of the building of Billroth Hospital under that pretext. “Resultantly, we hold that the order dated May 9, 2019 passed by this court does not require any variation and must be implemented in its entirety,” the bench held.

However, noting the submission made by the Senior Counsel appearing for the hospital that the hospital was not in a position to arrange for alternative accommodation for shifting the patients being treated to some other hospital as well as the installed medical equipment due to limited availability of time, the bench said it was reluctantly extending time for disconnecting electricity supply to the fourth to eighth floors of the building till June15.

“It is made clear that the hospital shall not be entitled to admit any new patients in the said floors misusing such indulgence shown by this court. The process of demolition of the building shall accordingly commence from June 16 onwards under the supervision of T Mohan, amicus curiae appointed by this court, and a status report shall be filed along with photographs and videographs of the same and such other particulars, as directed in the manner indicated by this court in the order dated May 09,” the bench added, before dismissing the petitions as being devoid of merits.

The Division Bench had concluded that the floors beyond the third should have been constructed only during 2009 as the hospital had been paying property tax for only three floors till then. This was contrary to the hospital’s claim that it had come into existence much before the cutoff date of July 2007 fixed by the government for regularisation.

The hospital management had contended that it was not in a position then to file counter affidavit with supporting documents due to short notice. Because of that, taking into consideration the additional materials which it has placed, the order passed by the court on May 9 may be vacated and the authorities directed not to take any coercive steps, it had said in the petition.