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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Hospital to immediately extend free treatment to patients belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in a plea that alleged that despite legal obligation on part of Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, and in terms of the Supreme Court and High Court's order, the hospital utterly failed to provide free treatment to any EWS patient in the last 2 decades.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that the Hospital gave an undertaking that the Hospital volunteers to abide by the condition of providing free treatment from its 25% OPD (Outpatient Department) and 10% IPD (In-patient Department) to the EWS patients from March 1, 2023.

The plea filed by the Social Jurist, a Civil Rights Group, through Advocate Ashok Agarwal alleged that the hospital is in existence for the last more than two decades and is functioning with 302 beds capacity, however, it has always been violating with impunity the conditions of land allotment with regard to providing free treatment to EWS patients.

It stated, "The respondent hospital has made unwarranted profits during the last two decades by not providing at all free treatment to EWS patients...therefore, it is liable to make good to society by paying such an amount of unwarranted profit to DDA in terms of an earlier decision of the High Court".

The civil rights group has alleged that the inaction on part of the hospital is in fact a blatant violation of the conditions of allotment of public land to it by DDA.

As per the plea, the hospital is run by the Indraprastha Cancer Society & Research Centre, to whom public land was allotted by DDA for the construction of the hospital with a condition that they would provide free treatment to EWS patients to the extent of 10% IPD and 25% OPD.

Case Title: Social Jurist, a Civil Rights Group Vs. Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre & Ors.