Mira Bhayandar: The health department attached to the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has suspended the licenses of nine diagnostic centres in the twin-city for allegedly defying the provisions mandated under the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PCPNDT) Act, 2003 which aims at preventing female infanticide.

The suspension periods are for various periods ranging from seven days to one month. In response to state government directives, officials from the health department had launched an extensive 21-day long inspection campaign at all diagnostic centres in the twin-city.

Nine centres were found to be flouting the various norms of the act-mostly erratic documentation which indicates wrongdoings. Based on the review process by the advisory committee to ascertain the nature of violations, MBMC’s Chief Medical Officer -Dr. Pramod Padwal in his capacity as the appropriate authority for cases related to PCPNDT, suspended the licenses of six centres for a week and the remaining three for a month.

The ultrasound machines of the centres were also sealed by the health department personnel. “We regularly conduct inspections once every three months, to detect if there are any anomalies, but this was a comprehensive drive.” said a health officer.

There were a total of 1229 medical establishments including- 223 hospitals, 878 clinics/ dispensaries, 58 pathology labs and 70 diagnostic centres registered with MBMC’s health department till last year. However, considering more additions and the presence of illegal ones, the actual figure could be much higher, sources said.

The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, or PCPNDT Act, was passed in 2003 as an amendment to the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act of 1994. The PCPNDT Act aims to improve the regulation of sex selection technology and prevent the misuse of prenatal diagnostic techniques.

Mumbai, Sep 24: The Bombay High Court has held that a complaint by the Lilavati Hospital’s trustee alleging that harassment by HDFC Bank led to the death of his father and the hospital’s founder was an attempt to avoid payment of dues.

A division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande said filing the complaint before the state minorities commission was “nothing but an attempt to wriggle out of responsibilities”.

The judgement was passed on September 18.

The court quashed the Commission’s show cause notice to the HDFC Bank and its managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) in July this year, directing them to appear before it on August 1.

The Commission was hearing a complaint filed by Rajesh Mehta, permanent trustee of the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust, which runs the Lilavati Hospital here, alleging severe harassment and mental torture by the senior management and recovery department of the bank to him and his father, Kishor Mehta.

The complainant claimed the bank was in collusion with certain erstwhile trustees of the hospital trust, and this harassment caused the death of Kishor Mehta on May 20, 2024.

He alleged that the senior management had kept the sword of arrest hanging over Kishor Mehta, which resulted in his untimely death.

The Mehtas belong to the minority Jain community.

The bank, in its plea in the high court, challenged the notice and refuted the allegations, saying the complaint before the Commission was filed only to circumvent the recovery proceedings it had initiated.

The court conceded and said the complaint filed by Rajesh Mehta was “nothing but an attempt to short-circuit the procedure adopted by the HDFC Bank against its borrowers and to face an action as a debtor, who was jointly and severally liable to pay an amount of Rs 14 crore”.

“On the pretext that since he (Rajesh Mehta) is a member of the Jain community, he cannot knock on the doors of the Commission and get orders passed,” the bench said.

The bench noted that if a liability of recovery of dues is fastened upon the complainant, he cannot take benefit of being a member of a minority community to wriggle out of the same.

It also said the Commission had acted beyond its jurisdiction by issuing notice to the bank.

The court, while quashing the show cause notice issued to the HDFC bank’s managing director and CEO, said it was done so “without jurisdiction and was in violation of the principles of natural justice”.

The court noted that the Commission is empowered to make recommendations to ensure effective implementation and enforcement of all safeguards provided in the Constitution, laws enacted by the Parliament and the state legislature and those contained in the policies and schemes for minorities.

The bench said it was “really doubtful” whether the provisions of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission Act intended to cover an individual complaint like the present one.

In 2020, the recovery officer passed an order directing the civil imprisonment of Rajesh Mehta and Kishor Mehta, which the courts confirmed, and an arrest warrant was also issued in 2023 against Rajesh Mehta, it said.

It further noted that the Mehta family had filed 15 proceedings on the issue before a civil court, the high court and the Supreme Court.

“When Mr Mehta (Rajesh Mehta) was unable to taste success in either of the proceedings, to short circuit the payment of the amount due under the recovery certificate and to avoid arrest, the present complaint was filed before the Minorities Commission,” the high court said.

The court also restrained the Commission from proceeding with the complaint by summoning the petitioners (bank).

Delhi: In a shocking incident a youth was brutally murdered by his friends for denying to give a party on purchasing a new mobile phone in Delhi’s Shakarpur area. The 16-year-old youth was stabbed to death by his friends after an argument erupted between him and his friends who were demanding samosa party from the victim for buying a new mobile phone. The police have registered a case and arrested the accused. They have also recovered the knife used in the murder of the youth.

The incident occurred on Monday (September 23) in Shakarpur area of East Delhi when the sixteen-year-old youth identified as Sachin bought a new mobile phone. While he was returning home after purchasing the phone along with one of his friends, he met few other acquaintances on a samosa shop. They saw his new mobile phone and started demanding a party from the victim. Sachin refused to give them a party, after which an argument erupted between them.

The argument escalated which turned into a fight and one of the boys took out a knife and stabbed Sachin from behind. He stabbed Sachin twice from behind, after which Sachin suffered serious injuries and fell unconscious on the spot. All the three accused fled the spot after attacking Sachin. The people present at the spot called the police and reported the incident.

The police arrived on the spot on receiving information about the incident. They took the dead body of the victim into their custody and initiated an inquiry into the matter. The police registered an FIR and after the investigation of the CCTV camera installed in the area, the police identified the accused and initiated a search operation to nab the accused.

The police arrested all the three accused in connection with the matter and all the three accused are said to be minors. The police have initiated the proceeding under the Juvenile Justice Act.