Vishrut Jain vs State Of Rajasthan
2022 Latest Caselaw 3526 Raj

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 3302/2022

Vishrut Jain S/o Narendra Kumar Jain, Aged About 31 Years, C- 102, Shastri Nagar, Jodhpur (Raj.)

----Petitioner Versus

1. State Of Rajasthan, Through The Commissioner, Directorate Of Medical Education, Chikitsa Shiksha Bhawan, Govind Marg, Jaipur (Raj.)

2. The Principal And Controller, Dr. S.N. Medical College, Shastri Nagar, Jodhpur (Raj.)

3. The Superintendent, Mathura Das Mathur Hospital, Shastri Nagar, Jodhpur (Raj.)

4. The Chief Medical Health Officer, Jodhpur, Rjasthan

For Petitioner(s) : Mr Manoj Bhandari, Sr. Advocate assisted by Mr Govind Suthar

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIJAY BISHNOI

Order

08/03/2022

This writ petition is filed by the petitioner praying following

reliefs:

"It is, therefore, most humbly and respectfully prayed that this writ petition in the nature of Mandamus/Certiorari may kindly be allowed. By an appropriate writ order or direction:-

(i) The communication dated 17.02.2022 (Annex-

10) passed by the Superintendent, Mathura Das Mathur Hospital (Respondent No.3 herein) wherein the respondent authority has refused to grant an opportunity of hearing and submit documents to the present petitioner may kindly be declared illegal and same may kindly be quashed and set aside The medical Board constituted by the Superintendent, Mathura Das Mathur Hospital (Respondent no.3 herein) vide order dated 03.02.2022 (Annex-6) may kindly be

(2 of 5) [CW-3302/2022]

directed to afford an opportunity of hearing and submit documents to the present petitioner.

(ii) The medical Board constituted by the Superintendent, Mathura Das Mathur Hospital (Respondent No.3 herein) vide order dated 03.02.2022 (Annex-6) may kindly be directed to consider the representation submitted by the present petitioner objectively and grant the petitioner the permission to give an opportunity for personal hearing along with all the documents, evidences and supportings etc. that have been submitted to the police authorities during investigation and the documents sent along with the representation to the Superintendent, MDM Hospital, Jodhpur since he being the first hand eye witness to the entire witness series of events.

(iii) That without prejudice to the above prayers, the petitioner apprehends the conduct of the respondent authorities and the medical board to be malafide and thus the petitioner further prays that the independent medical board may be constituted under the supervision of AIIMS, Jodhpur.

(iv) That the respondent no. 4 may be directed to take serious disciplinary action against the medical staff and the Balaji hospital for their gross negligence and violation of medical rules and regulations and to suspend the license of functioning of Balaji Hospital

(v) Any other relief which this Hon'ble Court deems just and proper in favour of the petitioner, may kindly be granted and;

(vi) The cost of the writ petition be allowed in favour of the petitioner."

The facts in a nutshell are that the petitioner's wife was

expecting to deliver on 18.01.2022. She delivered a baby girl on

18.01.2022 at a private hospital and immediately thereafter, the

doctors pronounced her dead. It is alleged that the death of the

wife of the petitioner caused due to gross negligence and

indifference towards his wife safety. The petitioner has placed

reliance on several incidents on the basis of which he believes that

his wife could have been saved if the doctors of the hospital

concerned had taken due care.

(3 of 5) [CW-3302/2022]

In relation to the incident, the petitioner already filed FIR

No.51/2022 on 25.01.2022 at Police Station, Chopasani Housing

Board, District Jodhpur City West for the offences punishable

under Sections 304A and 465 IPC against the concerned doctors.

The investigation into the said FIR is going on. During

investigation, the police requested the Superintendent, Mathura

Das Mathur Hospital, Jodhpur (for short 'the Superintendent') to

constitute a Medical Board for giving independent opinion in

respect of the death of the wife of the petitioner. Pursuant to the

same, the Superintendent constituted a Medical Board on

03.02.2022.

The petitioner moved a representation to the concerned

authority praying that he may be granted an opportunity to

furnish his statements and evidences to the Medical Board and the

Medical Board be directed to give its opinion to the police

department only after considering his statements and evidences.

The said request of the petitioner was turned down by the

Superintendent vide its letter dated 17.02.2022. Essentially, being

aggrieved with this, the petitioner has filed this writ petition

claiming the above quoted reliefs.

Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance on a

decision of High Court of Madras in P.Basumani vs. The

Tamilnadu Medical Council reported in (2021) 8 MLJ 113.

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner.

It is unfortunate that wife of the petitioner died after

delivering the baby girl on 18.01.2022. As per the petitioner, he

was present in the concerned hospital along with his wife since her

admission to the hospital and till she was declared dead. The

petitioner is claiming that he has witnessed the gross negligence

(4 of 5) [CW-3302/2022]

on the part of the doctors concerned and staff of the hospital. He

has claimed that the hospital concerned is not equipped with

required infrastructure and gross negligence is writ large and in

such circumstances, he wants to apprise the Medical Board

concerned regarding the said facts, so the Medical Board may

form its final opinion after taking into consideration the

statements and evidences produced by the petitioner.

It is true that in all probabilities, the petitioner was with his

wife and witnessed every event since her admission to the hospital

and till she was declared dead. It can also be assumed that the

petitioner is believing that there was gross negligence on the part

of the doctors and medical staff of the hospital concerned and the

hospital was unequipped, however, on the request of the police in

relation to the FIR filed by the police, the doctors were doing

administrative work to find out whether there was negligence on

the part of the doctors and medical staff of the hospital.

I am of the opinion that the doctors were not acting as a

judicial authority or quasi judicial authority and they were simply

performing their administrative duties of giving opinion to the

police in respect of a crime, which is under investigation. When

the Medical Board constituted for giving opinion in a criminal case

was not doing judicial or quasi judicial work, there is no question

of providing any opportunity of hearing to the complainant. The

Medical Board is supposed to give its opinion on the basis of the

material provided to it by the police or on the basis of the

material, which they require to form an opinion of the concerned

hospital.

So far as the judgment of the High Court of Madras in P.

Basumani Vs. The Tamilnadu Medical Council (supra) on

(5 of 5) [CW-3302/2022]

which the petitioner has placed reliance is quite distinguishable on

the facts as in that case the writ petition was filed on behalf of a

doctor, against whom an enquiry was going on in the State

Medical Council and in that, the Court has opined that the State

Medical Council should provide opportunity to the said doctor

before forming an opinion.

Here in the present case, the police are investigating into the

matter and seeking medical opinion in relation to the crime

complained of from the concerned Medical Board.

In such circumstances, I am of the opinion that no case is

made out to grant reliefs as prayed for in this writ petition,

however, the petitioner is free to move a representation for taking

action against the hospital concerned on administrative side

before the respondent No.4, if law permits.

With these observations, the writ petition is dismissed.

Stay petition also stands dismissed.

(VIJAY BISHNOI),J

masif/-PS

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