Delhi High Court urges lawyers to contribute towards 3000-bed shelter for lodging families of AIIMS patients

The Delhi High Court on Friday requested the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) to take steps to contribute to the 3000-bed night shelter that the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) is planning to construct to lodge families of the patients who come for treatment at the hospital.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said that it is not passing any directions but it hoped that lawyers would contribute to the project as they have done to several other causes.

"Activate members of DHCBA, create some kind of fund and donate it to them [AIIMs]. We don’t need to issue any directions on this. This is our desire," the Court said.

DHCBA President N Hariharan said that he will ensure that it is done.

Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar and Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, who were present in the Court at the time, said that they will make the first donations to the cause.

Hariharan said that he will also contribute. The Arun Jaitley Foundation too said that it will make donations to the AIIMS for this initiative.

The Court then said that it will monitor the creation of this shelter and AIIMS can approach the Court immediately if it faces any difficulty.

The Bench passed these directions while dealing with a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) petition initiated after news reports showed that several people were sleeping in the open due to the lack of space in night shelters.

It was revealed that many of these people had come to Delhi for treatment of their family members but had no roof over their heads.

The High Court had on January 14 passed detailed directions to ensure that immediate measures are taken to house the people. One of the directions was to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to take over the subways near the hospitals and turn them into shelters.

Today, it was informed that the steps have been taken and arrangements have been made to provide beds and shelter to the people sleeping in the open.

Advocate Satya Ranjan Swain appeared for AIIMS and stated that it has offered land to DUSIB for setting up around 80 shelters, enhancing existing shelter capacity across three facilities housing 949 beds and extending night shuttle services for greater accessibility.

He further said that the institution is proposing a 3000-bedded Vishram Sadan at Ansari Nagar, which will improve accommodation facilities for patients’ families.

The Court considered the submissions and appreciated the efforts made by the stakeholders.

It directed all the agencies in Delhi to cooperate with the AIIMS administration.

"We have a feeling that in the last two days, the situation has improved. However, the nodal officers of the agencies and other higher officers are expected to be on a constant vigil. While we appreciate the efforts made by the agencies, we repose our trust and faith that whatever is needed to be done to attend to these difficulties shall be taken care of by the authorities," the Court added.

Further, it directed that a meeting be held between the stakeholders and the Principal District and Sessions Judge (South District) on the issue on January 24, and a report should be furnished to the Court before the next date of hearing on January 27.