Private hospitals: Karnataka High Court notice to govt over relaxation of norms

The High Court on Tuesday ordered notice to the state government and Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare Services in response to a PIL challenging the circular relaxing provisions of trade license and occupancy certificate to private medical establishments.

A division bench, headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, was hearing the PIL filed by Ramanand Sagar, founder president of Bharath Yuvajana Sena.

The petitioner claimed that the circular dated August 17, 2020, has relaxed most of the rules and regulations prescribed in The Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act, 2007. The KPME Act was amended and a new portal was for registration and renewal was launched in February 2020. The circular said that the registration and renewal rules have been simplified in view of suggestions received from various associations of private medical establishments.

The petitioner contended that the effect of the circular is such that the private medical establishments all over the state are free from obtaining trade licence not only for the hospitals but also for other services inside the hospital premises. The restaurants, medical shops, laboratories and physiotherapy centres that operate from inside the hospital premises need no trade license to operate. The petitioner said these services are not free of cost and the government would lose revenue as GST cannot be collected without a trade license.

This apart, the circular also dispensed with uploading of occupancy certificate while applying for online registration and also the process of verification prior to registration and renewal. According to the petitioner, several buildings have regularised building bye-law violations making use of this provision. The petition has cited examples of building bye-law violations at certain hospitals.

The bench, after perusing the PIL, said that prima facie some clauses virtually relax statutory requirements. It observed that certain clauses, particularly dispensation with regard to trade license and occupancy certificate, defeat the object of the primary Act.

The next hearing has been posted to June 7.