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Chandigarh: Panel to probe encroachment by sole chemist shop at GMSH-16
Committee told to submit report in 15 days to the Chandigarh health secretary; action comes after court restrained the health dept from removing the chemist in the absence of any evidence on record
The UT administration on Tuesday constituted a four-member committee to conduct an inquiry into the alleged encroachment and demolition of passage by the sole chemist shop at Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16.
The action came up after a local court on September 23 ordered a stay on the chemist’s removal till September 2024, stating that there is no evidence on record that the UT health department initiated a fact-finding inquiry before coming to the conclusion that the chemist had demolished a partition wall and encroached upon a passage.
The court had asked the UT health department to re-approach the court after conducting a fact-finding inquiry and inquiring into the role of erring officials who didn’t bring the matter to senior officials’ notice earlier.
The fact-finding committee will be headed by additional health secretary Akhil Kumar, with Dr Paramjit Singh, deputy medical superintendent, GMSH-16; Anil Kumar Sharma, executive engineer, UT engineering department; and Rajiv Mehta senior architect, architecture wing, UT, as members.
“The committee will work on finding out the correct factual positions regarding the area of the chemist shop (garage number 6) at the time it was initially auctioned in December 1992, when it was first handed over in February 1993 and the area presently occupied. The committee will also check whether the area has been encroached upon and the time period when the passage or partition wall might have been demolished,” said Yashpal Garg, health secretary, UT.
He added, “The committee has also been directed to find out the role of the erring of the health department or GMSH-16 in case of any variation in area. Also, damage charges (approximate rental charges) for the additional area occupied by the chemist shop for increasing the size will also be calculated.”
The health secretary has asked the committee to devise its own methodology to find out the factual position. “In the process, the committee may go through the available record and connect with the persons/officials/ex-officials concerned. The committee may submit its reports preferably within 15 days,” the official added.
The chemist shop, the only one at the hospital, first came in the spotlight in the second week of September after an inspection by the UT health department found that it was being operated by the same firm for 29 long years through multiple extensions and renewals, and at minimal rent as compared to market price.
The shop was allotted to Sunil Kumar Jain on lease for only two years through an auction in 1993. While the first lease ended in 1995, the hospital authorities never floated a fresh tender and continued to extend the lease every five years, with the latest extension occurring in 2019 – for up to 2024, the inspection had found.
The UT health department had also contended that the chemist had illegally extended the shop by merging the adjacent passage, thereby doubling its size.
What the court said
While restraining the health department from removing the chemist, the court had said, “As the officials of GMSH-16 are hospital’s custodians. How did the chemist manage to demolish a wall adjacent to a passage and extend his shop under the nose of the officials?”
The court had remarked that even when the office of the hospital authorities was in the same building, they failed to reveal the day, month or year when the passage was demolished.
The court further said that the health department had admitted that the department officials used to physically inspect the shop before extending the lease deed every time. The lease deed was recently extended in 2019, but the health department had not answered as to why the “encroachment” was not brought to the notice of the higher officials at that time.
