The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday stayed the order passed by the lower appellate court and gave liberty to the Chandigarh administration to lease out the chemist shop in Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16.
The UT had moved the HC challenging stay orders granted on January 21 by the court of additional district and sessions judge Rajeev K Beri, which had restrained the administration from forcibly entering the chemist shop to clear the allegedly encroached public passage.
The HC bench of justice Rajbir Sehrawat issued notice to the chemist, Sunil Kumar, for April 19, this year, and said that in the meantime, operation of the order passed by the lower appellate court shall remain till the next date of hearing. “The stay of operation of the order passed by the lower appellate court would include: a liberty to the petitioners or Chandigarh administration to lease out the shop in question by open auction,” the HC said.
The counsel for UT administration Gagandeep Singh Wasu submitted before the HC: “The lower appellate court has gone wrong in law in misreading the facts and the orders passed by the other courts, including the HC, and has, thereby indulged in judicial indiscipline for reasons best known to him. Even, the alteration made by the respondent whereby the chemist encroached upon the adjoining area as well, has been virtually condoned by the lower appellate court only on the ground that the area of the shop was not mentioned in the lease deed. Hence, the lower appellate court has resorted to total wrong and absurd logic in reversing the order passed by the trial Court.”
{{/usCountry}}The counsel for UT administration Gagandeep Singh Wasu submitted before the HC: “The lower appellate court has gone wrong in law in misreading the facts and the orders passed by the other courts, including the HC, and has, thereby indulged in judicial indiscipline for reasons best known to him. Even, the alteration made by the respondent whereby the chemist encroached upon the adjoining area as well, has been virtually condoned by the lower appellate court only on the ground that the area of the shop was not mentioned in the lease deed. Hence, the lower appellate court has resorted to total wrong and absurd logic in reversing the order passed by the trial Court.”
{{/usCountry}}Wasu further said, “The Chandigarh administration is contemplating registering an FIR against the chemist as well as the delinquent officials of UT health department, who were involved in the illegal extension of the lease of the chemist shop. GMSH-16 has an architectural drawing for the building, including the shop in question, and it reflects the area, as well as, the space adjoining it. But, the evidence was ignored by the lower court.”
The matter so far
The chemist shop, the only one at the hospital, first came into the spotlight in the second week of September 2022 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.
Box
UT serves fresh notice to chemist,
asks him to vacate passage
After HC orders, the UT health department on Tuesday issued a fresh notice to chemist Sunil Kumar and asked him to immediately vacate the public passage and restore the load-bearing wall by noon of February 15.
The UT health department also asked the chemist to hand over physical possession of the chemist shop (number 6) by 10am on February 17.
“Failing to vacate the passage, the same will be carried out by the administration on your risk and cost,” the health department said to chemist, adding that, “you are liable to pay the applicable rent/penal rent damage charges for the period of illegal occupation of the shop and it will be computed and conveyed separately.”
Meanwhile, the UT administration will also opened bids for the new lease of the shop on Wednesday (February 15), till March 9.
“Sunil Kumar is free to participate in the ongoing e-tender process of the chemist shop number 6,” the UT said.