Additional District Judge Man Mohan Sharma directed the Centre (through secretary, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare), Director General of Health Services and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (through the medical superintendent) to pay Rs 4.52 lakh along with 12 per cent interest from March 1986 to Narula Udyog for the medical equipment supplied by it in 1983.
The case of the company was that the government of India had to host the Non-Aligned Meet in New Delhi in 1983. To equip the hospitals for the medical requirement of the visiting dignitaries, the Centre decided to purchase medical equipment on emergent basis.
The government placed specific purchase orders to the company through the medical superintendent of RML, promising immediate payment.
The company supplied medical equipment to RML hospital for a total value of Rs 3.44 lakh but the Centre failed to make the payment. A legal notice was served to them, which was not complied with, and later, only a part payment of nearly Rs 24,000 was made to the company.
The company moved the court seeking realisation of the pending payment.
The Centre and others contradicted themselves in the court as on the one hand they denied any contract with the company while on the other, they acknowledged receipt of equipment. MORE
