‘Right time to send them to jail’: Bombay HC pulls up insurance body over delay in restarting Mumbai hospital

Court reprimands ESIC over delays in restarting the Andheri Model Hospital, indicating possible jail time for officials who ignored directives.

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday rapped the the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) over its failure to comply with the court’s April 2025 directive to restart the ESIC Model Hospital in Andheri by January this year, saying this was the right time to send the authorities to jail for contempt of court.

“So much time has passed. They have disobeyed our orders. This is the right time to send them to jail,” the bench remarked. (HT Photo)

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad made the observation after former deputy mayor Rajesh Sharma pointed out that not even 20% of the work required to make the hospital functional had been completed so far.

“So much time has passed. They have disobeyed our orders. This is the right time to send them to jail,” the bench remarked.

Before the ESIC Model Hospital was shut down in 2018 due to a major fire, it used to provide essential medical services including outpatient and in-patient facilities, intensive care unit, super speciality treatment, diagnostic facilities, and emergency care.

Hospital has remained shut since 2018 fire despite court-ordered deadline for reopening

On April 16, 2025, a division bench of justices Alok Aradhe and Makarand Karnik had directed the ESIC and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PGIMSR) to restart the hospital by January 31, 2026, and scrupulously adhere to the timeline. The order was passed in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) claiming the hospital was kept inoperative illegally after it was closed down due to the fire incident.

Sharma moved the High Court on April 14, alleging “wilful and deliberate disobedience” of its earlier order and seeking directions to restart the hospital in a time-bound manner, with partial operations starting immediately.

In his petition, filed through advocates Rahul Kamerkar and Aparajita R Jha, Sharma said 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 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 petition said.

In court, the ESIC sought time to take instructions from authorities on the progress of work. The court subsequently directed the ESIC to file an affidavit detailing the status of work and posted the matter for hearing on August 25.