HC allows Paraplegic Foundation to work out of Sion Hospital for 5 more yrs | Mumbai news
Mar 13, 2025 09:12 AM IST
The Foundation had approached the high court after the civil court on August 7, 2024, had dismissed its appeal, challenging the order issued by the chief enquiry officer of civil court, whereby he had asked the foundation to vacate the 14,000-sq-feet premises allotted to it in the old barracks in 1968.
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday upheld an order evicting Paraplegic Foundation, which has been assisting public hospitals in the city in rehabilitating paraplegics for decades, from the old barracks of Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General (LTMG) Hospital in Sion, but ordered the civic authorities to provide alternative premises to the trust for a five-year period in the hospital complex.
“The necessity of a facility which caters to the requirements of paraplegic can hardly be over-emphasised,” said the court, and ordered the Foundation to handover possession of its present premises to the hospital by April 30, 2025, and directed the hospital administration to provide alternative premises to the Foundation within four weeks.
The Foundation had approached the high court after the civil court on August 7, 2024, had dismissed its appeal, challenging the order issued by the chief enquiry officer of civil court, whereby he had asked the foundation to vacate the 14,000-sq-feet premises allotted to it in the old barracks in 1968.
The barracks are required to be demolished as the hospital is undergoing redevelopment at a cost of ₹660 crore. The Foundation moved the high court after the principal judge of the civil court dismissed its appeal and ordered it to vacate the premises.
At the high court, a single judge bench of justice NJ Jamadar upheld the eviction order, observing that there was neither any jurisdictional error nor defect in procedure in the order passed by the enquiry officer, and the premises were indeed required in public interest. Besides, the bench said, the premises are owned by the municipal corporation and the Foundation had no right over it.
The court, however, noted that the Foundation was assisting the hospital in rehabilitating paraplegic patients for the last 35 years and directed the hospital to provide an alternative space of around 1,400-sq-ft for a period of five years to the Foundation “to maintain an element of continuity and ensure that paraplegics, who are currently taking treatment and rehabilitation at the petitioner’s foundation, are not left in the lurch.”
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