The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to pass an order allowing Sunrise Hospital in Bhandup, where 11 people were killed in a fire on March 25, to function again.
A division Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing a petition filed by Privilege Healthcare Services Private Limited, which owns the hospital. The plea challenged an order passed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), revoking its provisional occupation certificate. It also seeks permission to start the hospital again.
The petition says the hospital has 250 beds with oxygen supply for COVID-19 patients.
Senior advocate Anil Sakhare, representing the BMC, strongly opposed the plea and said after the incident on March 25, the fire no objection certificate and the nursing license of the hospital had also been cancelled. “Electricity supply to the whole building is cut off and the building has been sealed by the police. An FIR has been lodged against the owners of the mall and the directors of the petitioner company,” he said.
Senior advocate Aabad Ponda, for Privilege Healthcare, contended that the fire started on the first floor of the mall and not the hospital. He said 11 patients in the hospital lost their lives due to suffocation and not from getting charred in the fire.
The court, however, said it was a fact that 11 patients died in the fire, and posted the petition for further hearing in June. “We will not pass any order today allowing this hospital to function. This can wait,” it said.
