Disclaimer: This has been reported after the availability of the order of the Court and not on media reports so as to give an accurate report to our readers.
Supreme Court: In an application arising out of judgment on free treatment to economically weaker sections in private hospitals of Delhi, the Division Bench of Prashant Kumar Mishra and N.V. Anjaria, JJ., directed a joint meeting for framing of guidelines-cum-SOP for implementation of directions pertaining to free treatment of economically weaker sections of society in private hospitals of Delhi, as directed in Union of India v. Moolchand Kharaiti Ram Trust, (2018) 8 SCC 321.
Background
The directions of the Court in the present application originate from a previous judgment of the Court in Union of India v. Moolchand Kharaiti Ram Trust, (2018) 8 SCC 321, wherein the validity of the Circular issued by the Government of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD) on 2 February 2012, was challenged. The said Circular had directed the hospitals to implement the judgment of the Delhi High Court in Social Jurists v. State (NCT of Delhi), 2007 SCC OnLine Del 473, relating to free treatment for the economically weaker sections of society. Pursuant to the Circular, the Land & Development Office (L&DO) also issued an order stating that hospitals allotted land by it, including the Moolchand Hospital, were required to strictly comply with the policy mandating free treatment.
While upholding the policy, the Court directed all hospitals concerned to scrupulously comply with the conditions contained in the order dated 2 February 2012 and observed that any violation would be viewed sternly, including cancellation of the lease. The Court further directed the GNCTD to periodically submit compliance reports regarding the implementation of the conditions by the hospitals concerned and other similarly situated hospitals in Delhi.
Subsequent to the Court’s orders dated 24 February 2026 and 22 April 2026, compliance affidavits were filed by all hospitals except 6. On 22 April 2026, the Court appointed Senior Advocate Sanjay Jain and Advocate Ninad Laud as Amici Curiae to compile and analyse the compliance affidavits filed by the hospitals and assist the Court.
Report of Amici Curiae
Pursuant to the Court’s directions, the Amici submitted a report dated 10 May 2026 detailing the status of compliance and non-compliance by the noticee hospitals with the Court’s earlier directions.
The report also included geo-representations of 51 noticee hospitals mapped with adjoining jhuggi-jhopdi bastis recorded by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board and authorised colonies identified by the Delhi Development Authority. The Amici further summarised the salient features emerging from the compliance affidavits and suggested measures for effective implementation of the Court’s directions. In preparing the report, the Amici also interacted with Dr Kusum Arora, Superintendent, Nursing Home and EWS In-charge, GNCTD.
Court Directions
After considering the report, the compliance affidavits, and the suggestions made by the Amici, the Court observed that joint meetings involving officials from the Departments and Ministries concerned were necessary for the preparation of guidelines and/or a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to ensure effective implementation and compliance with its earlier directions. Accordingly, the Court directed participation of the Amici Curiae, representatives of the noticee hospitals, officials of the GNCTD, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Land and Development Office, land-owning agencies, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, New Delhi Municipal Council, Delhi Cantonment Board, and the Delhi Development Authority in the proposed meetings.
The Court further directed Dr Kusum Arora, Superintendent, Nursing Home and EWS In-charge, GNCTD, in consultation with the Amici Curiae, to convene the meeting at the Delhi Secretariat on 23 May 2026 and directed that the meetings continue until an effective SOP/guideline was prepared. The matter was thereafter directed to be listed on 29 July 2026.
[Union of India v. Moolchand Khairati Ram Trust, Misc. Application No. 1187 of 2026, decided on 13-5-2026]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the amicus curiae: Senior Advocate Sanjay Jain and Advocate Ninad Laud, with Ivo D’Costa, Aswin Suren, Gokula Krishna T., Harshita Sukhija, Ishani Shekhar and Rishika Agarwal, Advocates
For the petitioner: Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G., AOR Swati Ghildiyal, Nimesh Bhatt, Sonakshi Sinha, Apoorva Anand, Nring Chamwibo Zeliang, Shrisha Chandra, Hritik Pathak, Ram Narayan Mohanty, Rakesh Kumar, Advocates
For the respondent: AOR Radhika Gupta with Lalit Bhasin, Nina Gupta, Mansi Bajaj, Aditya Bhasin, Advocates
AOR Nitin Mishra with Ishaan Sharma, Mitali Gupta, Advocates
AOR Rahul Jain, Lalit Mohini Bhat, Advocate
AOR Ashish Pandey, Ankur Chhibber, Anshuman Mehrotra, Nikunj Arora, Prahil Sharma, Arjun Panwar, Amrit Koul, Muskaan Dutta, Aishwarya Sharma, Sheffy Bhatia, Advocates
AOR Namit Suri with Kapil Midha, Pepakayala Geetanjali, Garv Singh, Vartika Gautam, Preetpal Singh, Yadavi Malhotra, Advocates
AOR Ravi Kumar Tomar with Nitin Garg, Bathala Ramesh, Bano Deshwal, Sunita Sharma, Advocates
Senior Advocate Sridhar Potaraju, and M/s Trust Legal, AOR Sudhir Mishra, Ritwika Nanda, Petal Chandhok, Gaichangpou Gangmei, Veer Singh, Advocates
AOR Savita Singh with Rakesh Malhotra, Kushal Malhotra, Advocates
AOR Umesh Dubey, Jacob Benny, Mohnish Nirwan, Ritika Gaur, Advocates
Senior Advocate Raghenth Basant, and AOR Aanchal Tikmani with Kaushitaki Sharma, Syed Mujadid Gilani, Advocates
Senior Advocate Gaurav Sarin, and AOR Supriya Juneja with Aditya Singla, Harish Kumar, Advocates
AOR Mrigank Prabhakar with Tarang Agarwal, Mrigank Kumar, Astha Singh, Sakshi Banga, Advocates
Senior Advocate Rajeev Sharma and AOR Uddyam Mukherjee with Shruti Sharma, Shreya Sharma, Swapnil Pattanayak, Kratika Kushwaha, Nishant Kandpal, Arunima Singh, Advocates
AOR Chitrangda Rastravara, Anirudh Singh, Abhijeet Singh, Aishwary Mishra, Dhananjai Shekhwat, Yuvraj Singh, Pearl Pundir, Dashrath Singh, Advocates
AOR Anoop Prakash Awasthi with Shubham Dubey, Rushikanta Dash, Jasleen Kaur, Advocates
Senior Advocate Sandeep Agarwal and AOR Manjeet Kirpal with Rajesh Pathak, Kumar Ajit Singh, Advocates
AOR Vikas Mehta with Manish Aggarwal, Vaishak Omanakuttan, Advocates
AOR Piyush Kant Roy with Bipul Kumar Mishra, Ankita Dwivedi, Bhukya Reshma Bai, Advocates
AOR Ruchika Rathi, Abhishek Malhotra, Sr. Deepak Biswas, Kartikay Dutta, Mayank Rai, Anukriti Trivedi, Advocates
AOR Preeti Gupta, Anil Bhat, Vivek Gupta, Krishna Kumar Pandey, Balwant Chaubey, Advocates
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and AOR S. S. Shroff with Manu Nair, Manik Singh, Saurabh Gupta, Samridhi Shukla, Shourya Dasgupta, Advocates
AOR Arun K. Sinha, Rajiv Bahl, Rakesh Singh, Sumit Sinha, Advocates
Senior Advocate Dhruv Mehta and AOR Davesh Bhatia with Neeraj Yadav, Advocate
AOR Anuj Tiwari
Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave and AOR B. Vijayalakshmi Menon with Sameer Rohatgi, Anuradha Dutt, Anish Kapur, Haaris Fazili, Nikhita Suri, Prachi Pandey, Raghav Dutt, Advocates
Senior Advocate Rajeev Shakdher and AOR Yadav Narender Singh with Ribhav Pande, Aayush Shukla, Karan Khetani, Advocates
AOR Shruti Munjal with Amitt Mehtta, Advocate
Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Senior Advocate Rajiv Shakdhar and AOR E. C. Agrawala, Mahesh Agarwal, Manu Krishnan, Chanan Parwani, Advocates
AOR Vikalp Mudgal, Saket Sikri, Ekta K Sikri, Kshitij Mudgal, Priyansh Choudhry, M H Zahidi, Ansh Mittal, Advocates
AOR Vikramaditya Singh with Manoj Chauhan, Ujjawal Singh Parmar, Neha Raj Singh, Yashika Gupta, R Venkat Prabhat, Advocates
AOR Ekta Choudhary
AOR Mohit D. Ram with Ashok Chhabra, Nayan Gupta, Advocates
AOR Avinash Sharma with Gaurav Bahl, Gaurav Kumar, Joginder Singh Berwal,
AOR Anil Kumar with Prateek Walia, T Jayaraman, Chetan Sharma, Deepak Aggarwal, Sangeeta, Advocates
AOR Tulika Bhatnagar with Kartik Khanna, Arun Sharma, Advocates
