Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) is planning to file a defamation case against owners of a hospital that had put the name of Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agrawal on an invitation card, mentioning her as the chief guest for the inaugural function, allegedly without her consent.
A day after it was inaugurated on Sunday, Janseva Multispeciality hospital was sealed by the Surat fire department on the grounds that the premises neither had a fire NOC (no-objection certificate) nor any fire safety equipment in working condition.
On Thursday evening, SMC’s Udhna Zone Chief Gajendra Chauhan handed an application to Surat Police to register an offence against hospital authorities for putting the name of Agrawal in the invitation card.
However, police told Chauhan that no criminal case could be made against the accused based on the application, advising him to file a defamation case.
Pandesara police inspector H M Gadhvi said, “We have taken suggestions from legal advisers and top police officials and found that, on the basis of the application, there is no criminal case which can be made against the accused. We have advised the complainant that they have only one option left and that is to lodge a defamation case.”
Talking to The Indian Express, Chauhan said, “Going by the instructions of the municipal commissioner, we have handed the application to the Pandesara police station. The hospital authorities had not taken written or oral consent of the municipal commissioner before putting her name in the invitation card. Police officials suggested that we should proceed with a defamation complaint, which we would do after taking the consent of the Municipal Commissioner.”
Meanwhile, on Friday afternoon, Chief District Health Officer Dr Anil Patel and his team visited the hospital premises, where they had called the owners to furnish relevant certificates. However, the owners did not turn up. “We will stick a notice at the hospital, instructing the owners to remain present at the district health office with necessary medical degree certificates. If they fail to do so in five days, we will take strict actions against them. Once we get their certificates, we will verify them,” said Dr Patel.
Built on the premises of a defunct theatre, Janseva hospital was inaugurated in Bamroli on Sunday. Four people – Dr B R Shukla, Dr G P Mishra, Dr R K Dubey, and retired police sub inspector Pramod Tiwari — are joint partners at the hospital.
While, Dr Shukla and Dr Dubey were arrested by Surat police last month for running a dispensary without eligible degrees, three cases under prohibition act were registered against Dr Mishra with Surat and Navsari Police in 2020. All of them are presently out on bail.
Notably, before the inauguration, the hospital had sent out an invitation card containing the names of Municipal Commissioner Agrawal as Chief Guest and Surat Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gahlaut along with Joint Police Commissioner, Traffic and Crime, Raghvendra Vatsa as guests of honour.
While Vatsa attended the event, Gahlaut and Agrawal gave it a miss.
Sources said the hospital owners had taken the old theatre on rent last month and renovated it into the Janseva hospital.
