Supreme Court orders status quo on hospital land near Lalbagh

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered status quo on a prime piece of land around Bengaluru’s Lalbagh Road on a petition filed by Neuropsychiatry and Critical Care Hospital Pvt Ltd which is located on it.

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta issued notices to the Karnataka government and others on the hospital’s petition against a ruling given by the High Court of Karnataka, remanding the matter pertaining to a claim by Sri Gutte Veeranjaneya Swamy Temple and others over the land to a tribunal for adjudication despite a delay of 23 years.

The court admitted a special leave petition filed by the hospital through advocate Sanjay M Nuli for consideration. Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for the 100-bed hospital, argued that the high court, in a ruling on a writ appeal by the temple trust and others on June 13, 2016, sent the matter back to the land tribunal though the delay of 23 years was not explained.

The hospital’s petition contended that the high court failed to appreciate the fact that after obtaining the order from the tribunal in 1984, the grantees of the land have transferred the title and interest to the petitioner, who was the bona fide buyer and has constructed a multi-speciality hospital on the schedule land.

It also pointed out the petition of the temple trust and others has been rejected by the tribunal as well as a single judge of the high court. Therefore, the writ appeal filed by them also deserves to be dismissed only on the grounds of unexplained delay of about three decades.