Samanvitha Hospital v. 1. The State of Telangana

Petition under ri erction 151 cpc praying that in the circumst€rnces stated in the affidavit firdd in surrport of the petition, the High court may be prr:ased to direct the Respondent No.12 herein to forthwith remove the sear put to the petitioner,s hospital by permitting rhe petitioner to run the hospitar and commence treatment by suspending the inrcugned show cause Notice dt. g-7-2024 bearing Rc.No. spl'3/PC&PNDT/DM&r-ro 2024, pending disposar of the main writ p.tition. lA NO: 1 oF 2025 Between:

3. The State of Telaroana. rep. by its principal Secretary, Health Medical and Famity Wetfare n -.6artmeni, sd*"t.iiiil'[voEiJuM' The District Medir:al and Health Officer, Kamareddy District. The District Coller;tor and Magistrate Kamareddy District. AND ...PETITIONERS/RESPONDENTS Samanvitha Hos;:ital. rep. by its Managing Director Dr. Smt. Vittam Sucharitha. Wo: Di. Vittam'_p;ve;."lir.X"r,"'"ged about 36 vears. occ. Medicar pra,:titioner, u.r.ro.s_z_zz-o:'b,il."*iii'iiigficoroiilil#iudivl'., ...RESPONDE NT/I'ETITIONER Petition under Ser;tion 151 cpc praying that in the circumstan()es stated in the affidavit fired in sup port of the petition, the High court may ber preased to vacate the interim order. granted in l.A.No 112024 in Wp.No.1B460 t2024, dt: 1210712024 dismiss the vrrit petition. Counsel for the petitioner: SRt D SATANARAYANA Counsel for the Responrtents : Gp FOR MEDICAL HEALTH FW The Court made the follc,wing: ORDER l i I I i I I i I / (1 HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA UIRIT PETITION No. L8466 OF 2024 ORDER: etitioner, a 20-bedded hospital, having valid certilicate of registration up to 18.05.2027, was issued notice dated 08.O7.2024 by the 2"d respondent - District Medical and Health Officer purportedly on instructions of the 3.d respondent - District Collector, Kamareddy based on a news item. The said notice alleged that hospital indulged in iilegal activities like child trafficking, sex de[ermination, conducting MTPs/Abortions without any MTP Permission certihcate and collecting money as irregular mode for abortrons and scanning, in violation of the provisions of the Pre Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Scx Selection) Act, 1994 (for short, 'the Act) and Rules and DRA Clinical Establishment Act , 2010 thereby instructrng to close the hospital from that date itself. The grievance of petitioner is that without giving opportunity of submitting cxplanation, the 2"d respondent resorted to seize the hospital. ")

2. l-t:zrrned counsel peti[ioner Sri D. Satyari lrayana submits that hospital was cstablished in 2000-0 1 ancl a t no point of time, there werc complair rts from public, but s,.rockingly, the District Child protection Officer lodged a corc rlaint registered as FIR No. 402 ol 202r., dated

12.04.2021 fc,' the offences under Sections 312, 3 lS, 317, 42O read with Ser:[ion 34 IPC., under Sections 80, 81, g7 ol JJ Act, 2015 and Se(rti,rns 22,23 and 24 of the 1994 Act. Acco-ding to le arned counsr:], based on news item, the 2,rd responcle nr. issued show causc rrotice but without stipulating time Lo submit explanation, s; unply seized the hospital which rs nolh ng but violation of plrr]ciples of natural justice. It is submitted that had the opportlrnitl been given, petitioncr ivould have r:xplained suitably. Seizure affected by respondents n oulcl tarn ish the image of hospital, hence, learned counsel seeks a clirection to the 2.a respor,lent to conduct enquiry. b-v affording reas;onable opportunitlz o| being heard.

3. By order dated 12.07.2024, tlnis Court g,ranted interim suspe n sion of impugned notice and directed r.he 2"d re$pondent tc r.move the seal put on pe titioncr-h ospit al and permit Petitioner to run the hospital' However, it was made ciearthatthisordershoutdnotprecludethe2"drespondent from issuing fresh show cause notice and pass orders in accordance with law' Learned Government Pleader for Medical & Health' 4. based on the detailed counter liled by the 2"d respondent' would submit the averments in the writ aff-rdavit are a1l false' It is submitted that pursuan t lo lhc crime booked in Kamareddy Police Station based on the complaint of DCPO alleging child trafficking against petitioner - hospital u'hich was published in print as well as electronic media for 5-6 days and on the pressure exerted by hrgher officials and local public' the 2"d respondenl seized the hospital duly getting conducted enquiry by Programme Ofhcer of MCH-PC&PNDT' Olo KMHO' Kamareddy. On verification' it was found that there are no qualihed doctors rn the hospital in conformity with the Application for Registration Certificate; in the Application' Dr'V' Praveen Kumar with MBBS qualification' Dr' Sudheep (Sonalgist) name was mentioned' but the said Sudheep is not 4 comlng to -rospital and scanning is being conch-rcted by - unqualifiecl llorson Sri Vittam Nadipi Siddiramulu. Ll:arned Government pleader submits that previously, th is hospital was maintained in the namc of Kousalya Hc,r;:ital by Vittam Nadipi Siddiramulu and on documents o1' registration, doctor name was mentionetl as Dr. Vittam Kirarr Kumar, MBBS. Since they conducted a lortions without an.y . uthorised qualifrcation, the State tcam of pC & PNDT Act conducted sting operation and apprehcn,led Sri Vittam Nadipi Siddiramulu and Crime No. 320 ot 2O2l was booked bv l{arnareddy police and hospital was seizcd. The said case is pencling in principal Junior Civil ,Judge,s Court, Kamareddy (lt C.No. Zg3 of 20221. Thereafrer, the same managemcnt r:stablished new hospital in the name and style of Samanvitha I i ospital in 2022 at Sriramnagar ColorLy also managed bv \rjttam Nadipi Siddiramulu but cloctors, names were mention,:<l in the Application for Registration as Dr. Vrttam Praveen Kume. -. MBBS (2na son of Vittam Nadipi Sidcllraulu) , Dr. Vittam Strr:Liaritha, BDS (wife of Vittam praveen Kurnar). It \ was found th, t Dr. Vittam Sucharitha is attending ;1eneral Y 5 outpatients and conducting scanning with BDS qualification' Dr. Vittam Praveen Kumar is attending general outpatients and conducting surgeries during duty timings instead of attending duties at CHC, Gadhari as he is Government Medicai Oflicer' Learned Government Pleader submits that based on the enquiry report submitted by the Programme Officer' PC & PNDT (MHN) on O8.O7.2024 with the hndings mentioned therein and after following all the formalities, the 2"d respondent issued show cause notice in the morning hours and instructed to close the hospital, but the management did not heed the same and continued their operations, hence, the 2"d respondent proceeded to seize the hospital by issuing seizure notice in the evening as per instructions of higher authorities' I t is emphasized that during inspection, only six palienls came to hospital for scanning purpose and there were no in-patients as this hospital is exclusively known for scanning for sex determination and MTPs in the entire district and surrounding districts and there are no records available for inpatient data and other services' Learned Government Pleader also stated that the interim order dated, 12.07.2024 of this Court was impiemented and the 2"d 6 r.- respondenl i-.s,ued fresh show cause notice to petittoner on

24.O7.2024 and petitioner submitted reply on 30.O7 .2024 with false and irrr:levant statements / explanation. Hence, learned Government l)leader seeks to dismiss the Writ petition.

5. Il rtring given anxious consideration to the contentions oI l;oth the parties, it is evident from the counter, as submittecl b.7 learned Government pleader that there are so many irregulzLrities / illegalities found in the hospital, as narrated, in cl:Lail, which need no reiteration. When p()titioner approachcd ,: rrestioning seizure of hospital by issuin g show cause noticr:, this Court, by order dated 12.02.2O24 opired that allegations in lhe impugned show cause notice are vague and there is viol,etion of principles of natural justice, hence, rlirected the 2"4 rcspo.- rlent to remove seal on 12.02 .2024 , mz king it clear that tlre szrid order would not preclude the 2"a respondent from issuing ll':sh show cause notice. The 2"d responclent duly implementing rhe said order, issued fresh show. cause notice dated 24.O7.2()24 according to the 1994 Act under Secrion 2O(i) along with 14 ;'t:marks for which petitioner submitted rr:ply on

30.O7.2024 rle:r:1.ing the allegations. \ Y 7 Further, the 2nd respondent also brought to the 6. notice of this Court the cases booked against hospital management. They are 1) Crime No 320 of 2O2l under Sections 312, 42O and 109 IPC' and the provisions of PC & PNDT Act against Sri Vittam Nadipi Siddiramulu' who is father-in-law of Dr. Sucharitha, Director of petitioner hospital and the said case is pending before PrinciPal Junior Civil Judge's Court at Kamareddy as C.C.No' 793 of 2022;2) Crime No'4O2 of 2024 for similar offences against husband and father-in-law of Dr.Sucharitha;3)complaintunderSection28(l)(a)olPC& PNDT Act, lgg4 against father-in-law and husband of Dr.Sucharitha; 4) Maharashtra police also came to petitioner hospital ort 27.09.2024 in connection with Crime No' 527 of 2024 ofUdgir Police Station for conducting iliegal abortion and sex determination Apart from this' this Courl should not lose sight of the fact that previously the same management ran the hospital in the name and style of Kousalya Multi speciality Hospital, Kamareddy and during decoy operation' it came to light that the said hospital conducted abortions and sex determination and in that connection' the DMHO' Kamareddy I / \ \ 8 t-. also addres se(l the Sub-Inspector of police, Kamaredrly police Station on l'7 07 .2021 to take necessary actior-r. Ke eping in vierv all thesc factors, this Court, in the interest o[ pubic at large, is of tF,-' opinion that petitioner hospital is not entitled to continue its ,, Jre rations. The Writ petition is therefore. liable to be dismisscd. 7 CoSLS

8. 'lhr: Writ Petition is accordingly, dismissr:d. No Oor.r sequently, Miscellaneous Application s, if any shall stand c [osed. To, //TRUE COPYII SD/.A. SRINIVASA REDDY GISTRAR sr$TANr RE l\l'=;a; OFFICER 1 One CC to Sri t) Satyanarayana, Advocate tOpUCl 2 - 'rri' !'v'rsrv' r Two CCs to Gp rbr Medical Health Family Welfare, High Court tbr the State of Telangana, at,tyderabad tOUt Two CD Copies ' TJ LS 3 s \ \ HIGH COURT DATED:0510312025 ORDER WP.No.18466 of 2024 \ JY( "},4 J o o * 2 E II,,AB 2W * r 69 ((\ r > J DISMISSING TI.IE WRIT PETITION WITHOUT COSTS @4 4{