The continuous denial of information on the licence renewal details of a private hospital in Delhi and the exorbitant expenditure documents of its patient, prompted the central information commissioner Vinod Kumar Tiwari to remark in his recent order, that the gradual privatisation of public health services by the government, “denies applicability of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, being private sector entities.”
Mr Tiwari suggests that such private entities that provide public services which are essential to citizens “have to be included in the definition of ‘public authority’ by bringing in a state-specific amendment of the RTI Act which is a concurrent list subject.”
Central information commissioner Tiwari further warned that “This is a sure-shot demise of this sunshine legislation and its eco-system run in conjunction with similar legislations like Right to Service Act because the private units are not held accountable.”
Spelling out the five basic public services for citizens of a welfare state, i.e., health, education, electricity, water and road; Mr Tiwari observed that many state governments are bringing the Right to (Public) Services Act to ensure delivery of public services in order to make the public authorities accountable. However, he stated that “In contrast to it, public information officers (PIOs) and appellate authorities (AAs); by declaring hospitals running under them as private entities and hence, being outside the purview of the RTI Act; has defeated the very purpose of such social welfare arrangement and the purpose of enacting the RTI Act.”
In this particular second appeal/ complaint hearing on 16 January 2025, RTI applicant Sanjeev Kumar (argued by RTI activist Subhash Agrawal) was pitted against the PIO of the director general of health service. Central information commissioner Tiwari rued, “This public authority has come here as a helpless witness. Privatisation has been misconstrued as hiving off and thus, absolving himself of any responsibility towards the citizens for the conduct or to be precise alleged misconduct of the private entity.”
The matter related to the allegation of RTI applicant Kumar regarding his wife’s exorbitant prices/ bills raised by Artemis Hospital. Despite earlier directives by the central information commission (CIC) to provide the information, the third party—Artemis Lite Hospital—did not provide the required documents under RTI and did not counter the complaint points of Mr Kumar. This showed that the hospital (third party in this case) was extremely careless and casual about replying to the RTI requisition.
Central information commissioner Tiwari took objection to the casual conduct of Sandeep Kumar Agarwal, medical superintendent, Delhi Health Services, Delhi who also claimed to be its legal counsellor without producing any proof of the same. Mr Tiwari stated that he being the then and the present PIO in this case “hardly bothered to give any written explanation/ submission in compliance of the order of 7 October 2024 and casually opted to sidetrack his responsibility by merely forwarding the hearing notice to the medical superintendent, Artemis Lite Hospital and appeared with the intention to merely mark his presence before the commission in person.”
Mr Tiwari observed that Mr Agarwal, medical superintendent-cum-PIO, flouted the rules of the RTI Act as he failed to give any reason for not providing a proper written explanation for denying information. Hence for “his failure to comply with the directions of the commission showing his nonchalant attitude towards the commission,” central information commissioner Tiwari imposed a penalty of Rs15,000 under Section 20 (1) of the RTI Act, 'to be deducted from his salary' and directed the FAA to recover the penalty. Mr Tiwari also ordered Mr Agarwal to provide information as per the 7 October 2024 order, within six weeks.
Since the DGHS was dillydallying over providing the information and passing the buck when it comes to accountability, transparency and responsibility towards the citizens., the DGHS has been directed to pay a compensation of Rs45,000 to RTI applicant Mr Kumar through pay order/ demand draft within two weeks of receipt of the order and file compliance with the commission, immediately thereafter, through the link given in the hearing notice.
The scandalous part of this case was that the registration of private hospitals is being renewed retrospectively which essentially means that private hospitals have the option to withdraw renewal requests should they get caught in malpractice. Despite repeated directions from the commission during the pendency of this case, the DGHS has not uploaded the relevant legal/ executive order authorising such a back-dated/ex post facto issuance, observed the CIC order.
Unlike environmental clearances, which mandate the holding of an environmental public hearing by an independent panel prior to the grant of clearance, in the renewal of a hospital licence, despite complaints of malpractices and repeated RTI applications, the affected people are not given a chance of being heard at the time of renewal of the license of private hospitals.
Central information commissioner Tiwari has issued an advisory to the DGHS to amend the regulations governing the renewal of licenses of private hospitals, under Section 25(5) of the RTI Act, “so as to afford an opportunity of hearing to the citizens affected by the deeds of the hospitals besides stopping the practice of issuing ex post facto renewal of license.” To implement this, the order has been sent to the secretary, department of health and family welfare, GNCTD, New Delhi.
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(Vinita Deshmukh is consulting editor of Moneylife. She is also the convener of the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyaan. She is the recipient of prestigious awards like the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting, which she won twice in 1998 and 2005 and the Chameli Devi Jain Award for outstanding media person for her investigation series on Dow Chemicals. She co-authored the book "To The Last Bullet - The Inspiring Story of A Braveheart - Ashok Kamte" with Vinita Kamte and is the author of "The Mighty Fall".)