SC tells Delhi govt to take action against 14 hosps for failing to comply with EWS norms

The Supreme Court directed Delhi to act against 14 private hospitals for failing to provide free treatment to economically weaker patients as required.

New Delhi

The court ordered the action based on a November 2025 report. (Archive)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi government to take action against 14 private hospitals in the city for flouting their obligation to provide free treatment to patients from the economically weaker section (EWS), despite being allotted land for the facility at concessional rates.

The apex court passed the order in a proceeding related to the monitoring of its 2018 order, which sought periodic information on compliance from all such hospitals. The condition for land concession was to provided 10% of beds at the in-patient department (IPD) and 25% services in the out-patient department (OPD) to EWS patients, as per their lease deed agreement.

A bench of justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and NV Anjaria said, “Let the government of national capital territory of Delhi (GNCTD) take action against the erring hospitals and inform this court by way of an affidavit filed by the health secretary, GNCTD.”

The court passed the order on the basis of a Delhi government report submitted on November 18, 2025, listing 14 hospitals that were found violating the free treatment clause based on monthly reports submitted to the Delhi government. The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for February 19.

The counsel for the Delhi government, Swati Ghildiyal, informed the bench that filing of monthly reports is a continuous exercise and hence, the list is dynamic and keeps changing. “Since the hospitals on the list are based on monthly reports, sometimes they comply, and sometimes they do not,” she said.

As against the threshold of 25% OPD service, the 14 hospitals fared poorly, in the range of 1-10%. With regards to the IPD, barring one hospital, all failed to fulfil the 10% EWS criteria.

The government response said, “The government of NCT of Delhi undertakes to initiate necessary proceedings and take necessary action against such hospitals who are in non-compliance of the directions issued by this court.”

The response further stated that the 14 hospitals have been directed to affix a board between the entry and exit of the building announcing that the hospital is obliged to provide free treatment and a bed to the poor. The hospitals were further directed to mark 10% of the total beds in the hospital with a label of “free bed”.

The report filed by the Delhi government was filed pursuant to a court order on October 29, 2025, when it found that the 2018 judgment by the court required periodic reports to be submitted to the court. However, except for a report filed in 2019, there was no filing done.

As per the Delhi health department records, there is a total of 63 hospitals allotted land on concessional terms that are bound to provide free treatment to the EWS. Of these, only 56 are functional. In these hospitals, the government liaison officers are posted to facilitate free IPD and OPD services to the poor.

The government also submitted in its report that it was also considering enhancing the EWS eligibility criteria for availing of the free treatment facility to such families having a total annual income of less than ₹5 lakh. This is being done pursuant to a Delhi High Court judgment of 2023, which applied a ₹5 lakh income yardstick for EWS admissions to private schools that are bound by a similar clause in their land allotment deed.

The top court’s 2018 ruling stemmed from a PIL filed before the Delhi High Court seeking free treatment to the poor in hospitals obliged to provide the same under the land lease clause. This order was challenged in the Supreme Court, which upheld the high court order and directed the Delhi government to submit periodic reports.