Bombay HC orders govt to fill up vacancies at Pune leprosy hospital

The Bombay High Court today ordered Maharashtra government to fill up seventy-one vacancies at Dr Bandorwalla Leprosy Hospital at Pune, and to sanction a grant of Rs 30 lakh to the hospital.

The high court also directed that vacancies should be filled up within three months and possibly from among the former patients of the hospital.

The decision came twenty years after an NGO wrote a letter in 1986 to then chief justice of India about deplorable condition of the hospital.

The letter was converted into PIL, which was later transferred to the Bombay High Court.

The High Court, in 2001, had sought a report on hospital's condition from the HC registrar.

The report was submitted this month. Among other things, it highlighted lack of staff and also pointed out a provision under Leprosy Act, 1995 that if a private donor gives donation to hospital for leprosy patients, the government has to complement it by giving three times as much grant to the hospital.

Pune-based Dagdusheth Halwai Trust had donated Rs 10 lakh to the hospital a few years back.

Therefore the court ordered the government to fill up vacancies at the hospital as well as give a grant of Rs 30 lakh to it.