A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed before the Kerala High Court at Ernakulam by three citizens seeking directions to ensure effective administration of infrastructure, equipments related to the surgery, hygienic situation of all the medical colleges and other hospitals that belong to the government, across the state, until the disposal of the writ petition.
The State informed the Court that the grievance redressal committee contemplated under Section 36 of the Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2018 (Act of 2018) had been reconstituted through the Government Order dated 19 August 2025, and that with respect to the framing of Rules under Section 4(1)(e) of the Act of 2018, the process was stated to have been initiated and would require at least three months for finalization. It was further recorded that the grievance redressal committee had remained non-functional for more than one and a half years and that no inspections of Government Hospitals under the Act had been carried out by the State Council.
The Court observed that the Act of 2018 contemplates both the registration and regulation of clinical establishments, including Government Hospitals and that the State Council constituted under the Act of 2018 has overarching supervisory responsibilities. However, since inspections and a functional grievance redressal committee had been absent for a considerable time, the State machinery under the Act of 2018 would benefit from receiving inputs with respect to Government Hospitals. To bridge this gap, the Bench accepted the suggestion that the Taluk and District Legal Services Authorities can visit the Government Hospitals within their jurisdiction, focusing on infrastructure, hygiene, human resources, availability of medicines and equipment and noted that although reports generated from such visits cannot be equated with an expert inspection under the Act of 2018, they would nevertheless bring to light any general concerns requiring urgent attention.
It was directed that the Taluk Legal Services Authority can submit its report to the District Legal Services Authority, which, in turn, can forward the compilation to the State Legal Services Authority. The same can thereafter be transmitted by the State Legal Services Authority to the reconstituted grievance redressal committee and the State Council. For present, a single visit to the Government Hospitals within its jurisdiction by the District Legal Services Authority was considered sufficient, unless additional directions were issued. The Court also suggested that the State Government should consider enhancing accessibility by providing the committee with an online presence, including a dedicated email address, and, if possible, a social media presence, so that residents of the State of Kerala are enabled to submit grievances directly to the grievance redressal committee and upload audio-visual material.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji observed that that the visit by the Taluk / District Legal Services Authority and the submission of the report were meant only to assist and aid the feedback mechanism under the Act of 2018 and were not in substitution of the statutory functions of the State Council. The Court expected that the initiative by KeLSA would be completed within six weeks, and the matter was listed for further hearing on 7 October 2025.
Appearances:
Alex K. John, Satheesh T.P., Jilcy Jacob, Sijin Stanley, Cyriac Elias Steen, Sreekuttan M., Ninan Thomas, Gego George, Prathitha Mariyam Thomas & Fida Hasna P.P. (Counsel for Petitioners)
