High court glare on ‘non-compliance’ of order on Cuttack hosp

Cuttack: Expressing displeasure over non-compliance of a nearly one-year-old order, the Orissa high court has directed health secretary Shalini Pandit to appear before it on August 3.The order was related to overall maintenance of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics in Cuttack, better known as Sishu Bhawan, which has a 200-bed paediatric hospital, the only one in the state.While issuing the direction on Tuesday, the bench of Justices Subashis Talapatra and Savitri Ratho said, “It is unfortunate that despite the order issued on April 5, 2023, where it has been clearly observed that the state authorities are given the last chance to file their affidavit in compliance with the order passed on July 19, 2022, no affidavit has been filed by the state government as yet.”Refusing to grant further extension for filing the affidavit, the bench said, “We ask the secretary, health and family welfare department, government of Odisha to appear before us in person on the next date and explain how the order dated 19.07.2022 has been complied with.”It added, “If the secretary, health and family welfare department files a personal affidavit as regards the order dated 19.07.2022 in the meanwhile, her personal appearance may not be required. But that affidavit, we repeat, shall be personal affidavit after taking all the details from the concerned persons.” In its July 19, 2022 order, the health and family welfare department was directed to examine the report of an advocates’ committee constituted by the HC on Sishu Bhawan and submit an affidavit on corrective actions taken.