Anil Nanda clears hurdle in hospital row

Anil had initially moved a single bench of the court in 2005 after Fortis Healthcare, promoted by the Singh family of Ranbaxy, acquired the hospital for Rs 650 crore.

The Delhi High Court on Friday cleared the decks for Anil Nanda, a former member of the Escorts Heart Institute governing body, to challenge the conversion of the hospital from a charitable society into a limited company under the chairmanship of his brother Rajan Nanda.

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Anil had initially moved a single bench of the court in 2005 after Fortis Healthcare, promoted by the Singh family of Ranbaxy, acquired the hospital for Rs 650 crore. But the petition was dismissed on technical grounds for the reason that Anil had not sought permission of the Court before filing the suit mandatory under the Civil Procedure Code.

Restoring the suit to its original position and asking both parties to appear before the single judge on March 2, a bench of justices said, “In our opinion, the scope and ambit of section 9 of the CPC is extremely wide and by virtue of this provision, a civil suit can be filed in respect of any civil dispute”.

Anil’s main plea was that a charitable institution had been converted into a commercially run hospital whereby its assets have been encashed by some of the family members of the promoters of the erstwhile charitable society.