Authorities Need To Uphold Basic Human Rights, More So In Medical Negligence Cases: HC

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has emphasized the need for authorities to uphold basic human rights, especially in cases of medical negligence, as it asked the Thane civic body to pay pending Rs 10 lakh out of total compensation awarded to a boy who lost his leg in 2010.

A division bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna, in its order of January 14, directed the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to compensate a minor boy, who lost his leg due to medical negligence at a civic-run hospital in 2010.

Money can never compensate for the suffering endured by the boy and his family, but justice demands adequate accountability, it opined.

The bench directed the corporation to immediately pay the Rs 10 lakh balance compensation amount awarded to the boy by the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) along with 12.5 per cent annual interest.

The court said things will not change unless appropriate accountability is fixed.

"It is high time that the authorities become conscious of such basic human rights, especially when these rights are affected daily by those managing medical institutions. There has to be genuine consciousness of fundamental and human rights, as seen in the plight of the petitioner's son while at the mercy of the TMC and its hospital," it observed.

The court noted the then-two-year-old boy, Mohammed Shehjan Shaikh, was hale and hearty but had to have his left leg amputated below the knee due to medical negligence at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital at Kalwa run by the TMC.

The court said the incident has had a lifelong impact on the boy and his family.

"The petitioner's son, who was hale and hearty, has now been left with a permanent disability due to the negligence of the hospital and its doctors. Human life cannot be considered so worthless that meagre compensation is deemed sufficient. Money can never compensate for the suffering endured, but justice demands adequate accountability," the bench maintained .

The court urged authorities to become genuinely conscious of their duties and fundamental rights of the affected and called for a systematic change.

In 2014, the boy's father, Mohammad Ziyauddin Shaikh, a plumber by profession, received Rs 10 lakh as ex-gratia compensation from the civic body.

However, dissatisfied with the amount, he approached the MSHRC, which directed the TMC in 2016 to pay Rs 15 lakh with interest.

The TMC argued that the Rs 10 lakh already paid should be counted as part of the compensation, claiming it complied by paying an additional Rs 5 lakh.

The father then approached HC.

The HC, in its order, noted the amount of Rs 10 lakh was a voluntary ex-gratia payment made before the MSHRC's order and cannot be adjusted towards the Rs 15 lakh compensation awarded to the boy's family.

Post-the HC order, the total compensation amount comes to Rs 25 lakh, including voluntary ex-gratia payment.