Preparations were made about four months ago to hand over the government hospitals in Madhya Pradesh into private hands in a public-private partnership. But due to opposition from civil society and people, the state government has to drag its feet.
मध्य प्रदेश: पुलिस थाने सरकारी जमीन पर, तो उनमें पूजा स्थल वैध कैसे? हाईकोर्ट में याचिका
Advocate Om Prakash Yadav is 82 years old. He was earlier a government employee. He has filed a petition in the High Court against religious places in police stations. It states that there are 1,259 police stations in the state, out of which 800 have religious places of this kind. The petition said that this is a violation of the Supreme Court’s directive in 2009, which said that government property should not be misused. This directive prohibits the unauthorized construction of any temple, church, mosque or gurdwara on public roads or public places anywhere in the country.
A bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain accepted the petition and ordered the maintenance of the ‘status quo’ and sought an explanation from the government. On December 17 expressing dissatisfaction over the government’s explanation, the next date of hearing has been fixed on January 6, ordering the state government to submit a comprehensive and factual report within seven days. The court said that the issue is serious and religious structures violate the fundamental principles and basic structure of the Constitution.
The Government in its reply has accused the petitioner of being motivated by indirect opinion. Accusing the petitioner of attracting people’s attention, the government said in the High Court that the petition has been filed to harass the policemen and it is baseless as there is no such structure in any police station. The government also emphasized that instead of going to court, the petitioner could have gone to an alternative forum like District Magistrate to dispose of the case.
Satish Verma, one of the advocates assisting the petitioner, told Sunday Navjivan that police stations are government land, the police are its trustees and the construction of places of worship is in direct violation of orders passed by both the Supreme Court and the High Court from time to time. Petitioner Om Prakash Yadav believes that the construction of religious structures inside the police station is not possible without the connivance and direct permission and participation of the police.
He claims that many of these were actually inaugurated by the District Superintendents of Police and it is impossible for outsiders to construct these structures without their permission. . Sometimes there is political pressure and on many other occasions the desire to maintain peace and keep a section of the population satisfied prevents their removal.
The Supreme Court had ordered a ban on religious structures on government property in 2009, after which the Madhya Pradesh government had removed at least 571 religious places by 2013. The court had directed the state governments and union territories to review such structures and take appropriate action. The court empowered the High Court to review the implementation of the order and dispose of contempt of court petitions.
In view of the situation in the country, the eyes of the people are on the latest developments. Let’s see what the state government says in its revised report. It also remains to be seen whether she seeks some more time to divert attention from it and hang the case.
The government had to pull back
Preparations were made about four months ago to hand over government hospitals to private hands. But due to opposition from civil society and people, the state government has to drag its feet. Tenders were invited online in July to build a 100-bed medical college in 12 poorest districts. Actually, the idea was to upgrade the existing district hospitals in this way.
According to the conditions, the government hands over these hospitals to the company selected in the tender. The company was responsible for upgrading the hospital, building a medical college and managing the money for the same. Then the concerned company manages and maintains and runs the hospital. The scheme was to be implemented in Katni, Moraina, Panna, Balaghat, Bhind, Dhar, Guna, Khargone, Siwani, Sidhi, Tikamgarh and Betul. These are the poorest districts of the state in terms of per capita income. A reserve or base rate of Rs 260 crore was kept for each district. According to the conditions laid down, a quarter of the beds in the hospital to be upgraded would be paying.
Rajendra Shukla, the Deputy Chief Minister responsible for the health department, supported the scheme saying that it would improve government health facilities in these districts and also increase the number of medical colleges in the state. But the activists working in the health service sector as well as the BJP insiders are also agreeing
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