Escorts offer DDA Rs. 50 crore to end leasing agreement

NEW DELHI: Senior advocate Shanti Bhushan appeared on behalf of the hospital and made this offer before the court of Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice B D Ahmed. The Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre Limited (EHIRC) offered Rs 50 crore to the DDA to cancel the lease condition imposed on them while they were allotted land at a throwaway price. Despite hearing from Bhushan, the court continued the case until July. During the hearing of a case where numerous private hospitals in Delhi were accused of breaking their pledge to treat 25% of patients free of charge in exchange for acquiring property at a discounted rate, EHIRC’s request to have its lease clause cancelled came up. The case was brought by Social Jurist. On May 20, the EHIRC made this submission, and the court requested that they submit a formal response. Bhushan acknowledged that the hospital had broken the contract on the last hearing date, but Ashok Aggarwal, an attorney for Social Jurist, argued against EHIRC’s request. Hospitals, according to Aggarwal, are a hub for social services and an extension of the infrastructure that the government has not been able to offer to the general populace.