Writ Petition

The following Civil Miscellaneous was submitted under another Civil Writ (PIL) against Apollo. This is my first petition and im happy that it worked. The day we served the petition, the counsel of Apollo Hospital called Sir to say that Apollo agrees to all the demands of our client. But we did bring it to the notice of the Chief Justice of High Court Mr. Shah, in whose Court this matter was listed.It has made me happy..my first petition..and our client is going to sleep peacefully now. He came to meet us today-- for a change he looked relieved and happy.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

CM NO. --- OF 2009

IN

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 5410 OF 1997

(PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION)

IN THE MATTER OF

All India Lawyer’s Union (Delhi Unit) ………..Petitioner

Versus

Government of NCT of Delhi and anr. ……..Respondents

APPLICATION ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER UNDER SEC.151 CPC FOR DIRECTIONS TO THE APOLLO HOSPITAL TO PROVIDE FREE TREATMENT TO THE PATIENT SHRI SURESH RATHORE

RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH-

1. The petitioner by the above Public Interest Litigation has highlighted the fact that though the respondent-hospital has commenced its functioning since July 1996 and is obliged in terms of the lease deed to provide completely free treatment to the poor patients to the extent of 33% IPD and 40% OPD of the total occupied beds and of total OPD patients respectively but it has utterly failed to do so. It is submitted that an area of 15 acres of land on Delhi-Mathura Road, Jasola Village, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi was leased out at the rate or Rs. 1/- per month to Indraprastha Medical Corporation Ltd. Apart from 14.83 crores plus interest, a further sum of Rs. 23.83 crores was paid by way of equity capital by the Govt of NCT of Delhi to the respondent-hospital. Thus, a total sum of Rs. 38.66 crores (plus interest on Rs. 14.83 crores) along with 15 acres of prime land on the Delhi-Mathura road was leased out at the rate of Rs.1/- per month to the joint venture constituted by the Delhi government and the Hospital. The petitioner has sought directions against the Apollo Hospital to comply with the provisions in the lease deed and ensure free treatment to poor patients.

2. The petitioner by present application seeks to bring to the notice of this Hon’ble court a case of poor patient, namely, Shri Suresh Rathore who needs further treatment from the Apollo Hospital with regard to his medical ailment of calculi (stones) and hydronephrosis in his right kidney and has no money to pay on any account like medicines, consumables, testing and subsequent follow-up, whereas the hospital is asking him to pay nearly Rs. 18000/-. It is submitted that the said patient has already written a request letter dated 03.07-2009 in this regard to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of this Hon’ble High Court with a copy to Shri Ashok Agarwal, advocate for the petitioner.

True copies of the said letter dated 03.07.2009 along with medical papers are enclosed herewith and marked as Annexure A collectively.

3. The petitioner submits that the patient, namely, Suresh Rathore, resident of Meethapur Ext, Badarpur, New-Delhi 110044, has approached the petitioner personally as well as in writing stating that he was admitted at the government ward in the Apollo Hospital on 31.10.2006 after having diagnosed with right upper ureteric calculus 15mm with HDM (N) functioning kidney and gross hydronephrosis. Thereafter, Laproscopy operation was conducted at the hospital on him on 01.11.2006 and he was given discharge on 03.11.2006. The patient was again admitted at Apollo Hospital on 10.10.2007 in which DJ Stent removal took place. After the said treatments, which cost the patient approximately Rs 25,000/- towards medicines, consumables and testing, the patient was told that his ailment no longer exists and he was discharged. The findings in his Discharge Summary dated 10.10.2007 clearly stated “stone fragments removed”.

4. The petitioner submits that in 2008, the said patient again felt pain in his abdomen for which he approached G.B. Pant Hospital, Delhi, where his X-Ray report showed the presence of right upper ureteric and mid & lower part of right kidney calculus and Grade III Hydronephrosis of right kidney indicating that the ailment, for which the poor patient had spent Rs. 25,000/- while undergoing earlier treatment at the Apollo Hospital, was still present in his kidney.

5. The patient rushed back to the Apollo Hospital and was told that another operation would have to be conducted on him which would cost him approximately Rs. 18,000/-. The petitioner would like to highlight here that this is in contradiction to the findings of the Hospital in 2007 that the stone fragments had been removed, which shows that the Hospital had erred in its treatment, for which the patient is made to suffer, not only physical but also extreme mental agony.

6. The petitioner submits that the ultrasound report dated 01.08.09 also confirms that the right kidney of the patient has multiple calculi (5 to 6 in number) with the largest being 9.1 mm in size and the rest between 4.0 to 6.0 mm. It further shows that the right kidney of the patient also has Grade I Hydronephrosis. The petitioner would like to highlight here that during the very first diagnosis of the patient it was revealed that there was only one calculus (stone) right upper ureteric calculus, 15mm in size along with gross Hydronephrosis. This shows that the Hospital erred in arriving at the conclusion that the treatment was complete, while in reality the calculus had only been broken down into various pieces.

7. The petitioner submits that the patient is not at all in a position to bear any further expenses on any account for payment to the Apollo Hospital towards medicines, consumables, testing etc. It is submitted that the patient is in dire need of immediate medical attention at Apollo Hospital to get rid of his ailment. However, the Apollo Hospital has told him to arrange for a sum of RS. 18000/- for the treatment.

8. In the premise aforesaid, the petitioner most humbly prays that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to:-

1. issue any appropriate direction to the Apollo Hospital to forthwith provide to the patient Shri Suresh Rathore necessary medical treatment free of cost without insisting on any payment on any account including that of medicines, consumables, testing etc;

2. issue any appropriate direction to Apollo Hospital for conducting free check-up of the patient after the said operation so as to ensure that the patient’s ailment does not recur; and

3. pass any further order or direction as may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case.

New Delhi

Dated: 04.07.2009 (Advocates......)

Oztralia: lesson to be learnt

Indian Students protesting againts attacks on Indians in Australia

The banners would have been lowered to be folded in a while. And the protesters would begin marching back home to immerse themselves in their routine jobs. Enough of the agitation. The newspapers have already become relatively quiet on the topic but it would still be too early to say the issue has died down. It would just take another incident like this to tee off another series of protests, editorials,comments and rhetoric, the works. I talk of the spate of recent racist attacks on Indian students studying in Australia and the subsequent manner in which the issue was handled by the Indian media.

As much as one would abhor racism and condemn such attacks, be that on any citizen in any country, one can't help but be cruel enough to feel a little smug that perhaps now they would know what being an Indian should mean to Indians. May be now the flag-bearer of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and its cousin Shiv Sena's followers and those who sympathise with their demands would understand why they have been wrong all this time. For how different are these racial attacks on Indian students in Australia than those by a Maharashtrian on a North Indian student? If the latter is justified than so should the former be, for both speak of exclusivity for their own ilk. The only difference their lies is that here they beat up their fellow countryman with whom they share more than mere nationality, while down under there was no thread binding them together except perhaps of residence.

Indians beating up Indians..courtesy MNS

I know it is not the time to feel smug or in the least pinpoint whose fault it is but we learn from experiencing things first hand. An Indian student lies in coma in far off Australia battling with his life, for no fault of his, for belonging to a land and choosing to study down under. And many like him have been hospitalised, all in one or the other racist attacks.

That's not all. We should also wait a moment here and look around how the media has tackled the issue. I wouldn't have given it much thought had a journalist from the Indian Express not mentioned the same in his column. The way even the leading news channels reported the incident it felt like India would go on war with Australia anytime. "India Fights Back", "Racism Down Under" etc etc.. One finds it stupid and absurdly presumptive, to say the least.

It is not as if the entire country that is against India or Indians as such. The heads of the nations have spoken and there has been no history of ill-will between the people of the two country's, except of course if one rules out Cricketing rivalry, which is anyway healthy for nations mad about a sport. But if we come down to a fellow Australian, do we have a reason to feel like we are hated? No! But if these news reports are to be believed one would feel the countries are at loggerheads with one another. But why would that be? Australians condemn these attacks like any other people. Rogue elements are there in all countries and all civilisations, but we don't go about saying that all individuals are violent, do we? And we know there are many incidents where foreign students or tourists have been attacked, though not for racism but for purposes like rape, robbery, and fraud. But we don't hear their media propounding or even hinting that India as a whole is unkindly to its visitors? So why are we going gung-ho about the same here?

Phew, let's come to a conclusion straightaway, let's just say these are the saffron brigade of valentine's day, these are the MNS goondas of Australia, out to save the pride of the marathi manoos, these are the sainiks of the Shiv Sena of Australia, who, without ideology or prudence strive for a goal which makes no sense and have not many takers in today's India.

Bail for Dr. Binayak

Having remained eclipsed from news for the whole day yesterday, today's newspaper brought definite cheers.  Dr. Binayak Sen has finally been granted bail by the Supreme Court after a period of 2 years during which hoards of protest marches, petitions, discussions and innumerable newspaper articles demanding his bail did the rounds in the country. While many are not aware of who Dr. Binayak Sen is, but among the civil society groups his had become a name that spelled berating yet slowly spiralling anger towards the Chhattisgarh Government. 

For the uninitiated, Dr. Binayak Sen, a paediatrician by profession and a civil rights activist in Naxalism stricken Chhattisgarh, was put to jail on May 14, 2007 on the charges of passing messages on behalf of a jailed Naxalist leader. He was arrested under the Chhattisgarh Public Security Act 2005 and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 after which he had been denied bail on every occasion.

It is further noteworthy that on March 31 the same year, several Adivasis were killed in Santoshpur, Chhattisgarh by police officers who alleged them to be Maoists. Dr Sen had been one of the most prominent faces condemning the attacks and who tried to draw attention towards the ghastly crime that had been committed in the name of duty. The autopsy report of the brutal 'encounter' showed that the dead had been hit on the head with bullets from a point blank range and there were also scars of axe injuries on their bodies. It was exactly a week after the autopsy report had come out that his arrest was made.

I don't propose to claim that I know any more that what daily newspapers feed me about him, but the case was such that any conscious citizen would feel aggravated by the lack of common sense and total arbitrariness with which he was kept in jail for a bailable offence, even though there was no material evidence. It is common knowledge for those who are familiar with even slightest of legal knowledge that bail is a matter of right. This right was not given to a man who is national Vice-President of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

The seriousness of the matter and the levels the agitation for his release can be judged by the facts that sometime back 22 Nobel laureates from around the world had sent a written petition to the Government of India for Dr Sen’s release. Outstanding opinion leaders like Noam Chomsky and Amritya Sen besides those from the upper echelons of the media have all pushed for his cause. Innumerable campaigns in my own University where young students carrying placards and banners with messages like "Free Dr. Sen", "Grant Bail to Dr. Binayak Sen', took out protest marches and dharnas right from Art Faculty to all around the campus and back again for so many months. No major columnist or news magazine stopped short of voicing the injustice that was being perpetrated in the name of tackling Naxalism, Tehelka ran an entire issue on the same and every now and then the editorials would demand bail for Dr. Sen. But ofcourse the campaign didn't create as much of a furore among the masses the way the Jessica Lal issue or Aarushi case did, but it is definitely a victory for those fighting for civil rights in the country. And also a triumph for activism for one’s cause in the country.

UPA Returns

Results of the 15th Lok Sabha Elections have been out since seven or eight days now and the political magic/mania has not subsided at all. All the editorials or columns of the past month or so in one way or the other mention the elections or the people's mandate in an almost identical manner. There are certain details and observations which one would find in almost all such articles. First being the stability factor, the standard phrase being -- “the verdict of the people has shown that they want a stable government.” Second undoubtedly being the magnanimous integrity that the PM holds in the eyes of the nation, whose "commitment to the nation and honesty is above reproach or question". The third is definitely the Rahul Gandhi factor and how is a not your run-off-the-mill politician and how his subtle yet patient work has reaped results that no one had quite predicted.

I am most interested in the Rahul factor. His suave mannerisms have caught the fancy of the urban as well as the rural voter. Not your stereotype politician, he is ready to wait for his turn to come and till then committed towards focussing on workings of the youth brigade of his party.

Isn’t it quite remarkable how the three people at the helm of affairs of our nation have all been once considered naïve and reluctant politicians? Sonia Gandhi, when she first entered politics was rebuked for her accented Hindi, which she now fluently speaks at public gatherings; otherwise also her naiveté was jeered at mercilessly before and little after the UPA victory of 2004. The PM, we all know is for a fact an Economist, a former RBI Governor and someone who would rather be doing the works than merely be seen bringing down the opposition with his eloquent speeches. And then we have Rahul Gandhi, about whom enough has been said and written this past week or so.

But one thing I wonder all this while, what if the UPA had not won? Would we have been reading about how the same sloganeering, propaganda and advertisements by the BJP worked and how people were really voted for change? Then perhaps the PM would have been again termed weak and his policies lambasted? Rahul Gandhi would have been thwarted and his rural trips made fun of? Who knows? All the ideas that today we have formed, now that we know the results, would have stood no ground had the verdict been different.

For now, lets be happy that UPA was given an extended opportunity.