Don't blame COVID, explain why AIIMS-Madurai delayed: Madras HC to Centre

MADURAI: The Madurai bench of Madras High Court, which took serious note of the delay of the AIIMS project in Madurai, on Thursday posed a series of questions regarding the completion and opening of the facility and made it clear to the Centre that it could not cite COVID-19 as a reason.

A division bench, comprising Justices R Subramanian and L Victoria Gowri, while hearing a petition from one Baskaran seeking a direction to expedite the AIIMS facility, wondered what the officials involved in the project had been doing all these five years as the PM laid stone in 2019.

Further, the bench wanted the Centre’s counsel to inform the court as to when the project would be resumed and completed.

The bench also directed the Union Health Secretary to file a detailed report on the subject and adjourned the case to September 24.

Baskar in his PIL petition filed before the HC bench, stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of the AIIMS Hospital project in January 2019, but even after a lapse of five years, there has been not much progress.

If the AIIMS project comes into existence, it has scope to generate a plethora of jobs. More importantly, the facility would provide access to quality medical care, along with saving time and money, to people residing in the southern region of Tamil Nadu.

In 2015, the Centre issued a notification announcing the establishment of an AIIMS Hospital branch in Tamil Nadu. Three years later, Thoppur was chosen as the site for the proposed facility.

Multiple writ petitions were filed before the court by several persons seeking direction to expedite the project and the court also honoured their requests. Despite all these, the AIIMS project has been delayed.

Citing these, the petitioner sought a fresh direction from the court to expedite and complete the project within a specific time frame.