ORDER :— The facts of this case are indeed distressing. The Lions Club, Pottery Town at Khurja in Uttar Pradesh arranged and conducted, as part of its social service programme, an "Eye Camp" intended to extend facilities of expert Ophthalmic surgical services to the residents of the town. The Club invited Dr. R. M. Sahay of the Sahay Hospital, Jaipur and his team of doctors to offer the surgical services. The Camp was arranged in Aggarwal Dharamshala at Novelty Road, Khurja. Dr. R. M. Sahay and his team of doctors and para-medical staff, who arrived in Khurja on 21st April, 1986, examined about 122 patients. One hundred and eight patients were operated upon, 88 of them for Cataract which, with the modern advances in Ophthalmic Surgery, is considered a relatively minor and low-risk surgery. Dr. Sahay left Khurja that evening for Moradabad where he was scheduled to conduct similar operations at another "Eye Camp."

But the whole programme at Khurja, however laudable the intentions with which it might have been launched, proved a disastrous medical misadventure for the patients. The operated eyes of the patients were irreversibly damaged, owing to a postoperative infection of the Intra