The hospital is mulling to challenge the decision in the High Court.
16 Mar, 2013The State Information Commission (SIC) has ruled that the DMC Hospital of Ludhiana is a public authority as defined under section 2(h) “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. Hearing an appeal filed by RTI activist Rohit Sabharwal and Dr Sandeep Kumar, the SIC ruled that the hospital should appoint a public information officer (PIO) within a month and ensure that all the provisions of the RTI Act are implemented by it.
It was claimed before the SIC that as a charitable trust, the DMC has been given many concessions like exemption from 25% extra tariff for uninterrupted power supply, relief from the land registration charges, exemption from the house tax, relief in the income tax, land at concessional rates etc. The hospital had claimed that it is a private charitable trust and does not get any financial aid from the government. The benefits provided to it are a part of policy matter for all the trusts and a NGO cannot be held as a public authority on the basis of these general measures.
The hospital is mulling to challenge the decision in the High Court.