Contempt plea filed over over delay in reopening model ESIC hospital

The ESIC director general must be punished with civil imprisonment for six months, along with imposition of a ₹2,000 fine for willfully breaching and disobeying the court’s order, the PIL said

MUMBAI: Former deputy mayor Rajesh Sharma has filed a contempt petition in the Bombay High Court alleging “wilful and deliberate disobedience” of its April 2025 order directing the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PGIMSR) to restart the ESIC Model hospital in Andheri by January this year.

Prior to its closure, the ESIC Model hospital in Andheri provided essential medical services including outpatient and in-patient facilities, intensive care unit, super speciality treatment, diagnostic facilities, and emergency care

While the hospital was shut down in 2018 after a major fire, Sharma alleged in the the public interest litigation (PIL) filed through advocates Rahul Kamerkar and Aparajita R Jha that despite the passage of several years, the ESIC had failed to take effective steps to restore the functioning of the hospital, resulting in grave hardship to the insured persons and the general public.

The ESIC director general must be punished with civil imprisonment for six months, along with imposition of a ₹2,000 fine for willfully breaching and disobeying the court’s order, the PIL said.

Prior to its closure, the ESIC Model hospital in Andheri provided essential medical services including outpatient and in-patient facilities, intensive care unit, super speciality treatment, diagnostic facilities, and emergency care.

However, prolonged inaction, coupled with the urgent public need for medical infrastructure, prompted Sharma to approach the court on April 14, seeking directions to restart the hospital in a time-bound manner, with partial operations starting immediately.

Sharma also issued a legal notice to the concerned authorities on February 6 and a final notice on February 27 this year, calling upon them to comply with the high court’s directions. Despite receipt of the notices, he said, the ESIC “failed, neglected and refused to take any effective steps to comply with the directions and continued to remain in wilful breach thereof”.

“Even as on date, the construction is nowhere near completion, much less has possession of the building been obtained or any steps taken towards making the hospital operational,” the petition said. The inaction of the concerned parties was “neither accidental nor inadvertent”, but “intentional, deliberate, and in conscious disregard of the authority of this court”, the petition noted.