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NEWS TODAY 28.12.2022

HC directs Tiruvarur Govt Medical College Hospital Dean, Collector to deposit ₹5 lakh towards medical negligence

HC directs Tiruvarur Govt Medical College Hospital Dean, Collector to deposit ₹5 lakh towards medical negligence

Justice S.M. Subramaniam orders that the Principal Subordinate Court in Tiruvarur can proceed with attachment of movable properties in the hospital and Collector’s office if the money is not deposited by Jan 10

December 24, 2022 08:56 pm | Updated 08:56 pm IST - CHENNAI

THE HINDU BUREAU

The Madras High Court has directed the Dean of the Government Medical College Hospital in Tiruvarur district and the Collector to deposit ₹5 lakh awarded as compensation to a woman who had lost vision in her eye, due to medical negligence, after a surgery performed at the hospital in 2015.

Justice S.M. Subramaniam ordered that the entire award amount should be deposited on or before January 10, 2023 to the credit of an execution petition pending before the Principal Subordinate Court in Tiruvarur failing which the Sub Court could proceed with attachment of the movable properties in the hospital and the Collectorate.

The orders were passed on a civil revision petition moved jointly by the Dean as well as the Collector against an attachment order passed by the Sub Court on September 29, 2022 on the victim’s 2017 execution petition since the officials had not paid the compensation amount awarded to her in 2016.

Not finding any justification in the revision petition filed by the officials, the judge said, the officers had slept over the matter since 2016 and had not challenged the ex-parte award passed in favour of the victim Vijayakumari. After six years, they had now moved the High Court against the attachment proceedings. “As far as the present Civil Revision Petition is concerned, this court does not find any reason to interfere with the order of attachment passed by the execution court,” the judge wrote.

However, in order to maintain the decorum of the public offices and the inconvenience that people might have to face if the movable properties of the office of the Dean and the Collector get attached, the judge ordered that the attachment order could be kept in abeyance till January 10, 2023.

If the officials do not deposit the entire award amount by then, the Sub Court could proceed with the attachment order, he said before directing the High Court Registry to communicate a copy of his order to the victim woman.