Escort Heart Institutes’ request for eviction is denied by the Delhi HC

NEW DELHI: Escorts Heart and Research Institute’s appeal challenging a notice of eviction from the land assigned to it by Delhi Development Authority for alleged violations of the lease deed was denied by the Delhi High Court. The hospital administration received a show cause notice from the DDA Estate Officer in April 2004 for eviction on the grounds that the hospital had broken the terms and conditions of the lease deed that guaranteed free treatment for patients. Yesterday, a Division Bench made up of Chief Justice M. K. Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Khanna rejected the hospital’s argument that DDA should have brought a civil lawsuit to regain ownership of the land rather than following with the Public Premises Act’s (Eviction and Unauthorized Occupants) eviction process. The Escort attorney Sanjeev Puri’s further argument that the DDA never granted the hospital a lease on the site and that the Estate Officer lacks authority to serve the hospital with a show-cause notice of eviction was also rejected by the Bench. Ajay Verma, the DDA’s attorney, argued that the hospital had broken the requirement that 25% of all beds be set aside for the poor and disadvantaged to receive free care. He said that because the Escorts and Fortis companies combined the previous year, the hospital was not eligible to receive government property. According to him, the DDA has commenced separate procedures against the institute for the cancellation of the license on the same grounds.