The main legal point established in the judgment is the obligation of the State to ensure good health conditions and the fundamental right to medical aid and advice under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The court emphasized the need to resolve the mismanagement and malfunctioning of the hospital in the larger public interest.

( 1 ) SOME young lawyers under the banner supreme court Young Advocates Forum (hereinafter referred to as the Forum, for short) have filed this petition pro bono publico. This Forum is concerned about the appalling and miserable conditions existing in government hospitals. The present Petition in particular raises the issue about the management and functioning of Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital - University college of Medical Sciences Block (hereinafter referred to as GTBH UCMSB, for short ). It is highlighted in the Petition that because of dual control over this hospital - Government of NCT of Delhi as well as University of Delhi - there is mismanagement and malfunctioning and consequently no proper medical facilities are being provided to the residents of East delhi to which category of population this biggest hospital of the area caters to. This dual control, according to the petitioner, is leading to duality of command, conflicting orders from two immediate superiors, two sets of personnel belonging to medical, para medical as well as lower staffs drawn through two independent sources, dual administration, absence of any discernible principle for determining inter se seniority of the personnel drawn from the two sources, lack of definite roles and lack of demarcation of responsibilities is aiding myriade of problems encountered by the hospital administration, by the patients, by the doctors and by students undergoing bachelor and Post Graduate Courses at the GTBH - UCMSB complex.

( 2 ) FORTUNATELY, as is revealed from the stand taken by all the parties, each instrumentality of the state namely. Union of India, Delhi Government, university of Delhi, recognises the aforesaid problem. There is a candid admission on the part of all these respondents regarding mismanagement because of duality of control of the hospital. But unfortunately, due to uncompromising and non-cooperative attitude of these authorities the solution to the problem has not been found out. This is notwithstanding the fact that the problem of dual control has been discussed from time to time by these respondents; various Committees have been set up for resolving the issue who have given their recommendations from time to time; various orders passed by this Court in this Petition from time to time leading to the setting up of Task Force which also gave its recommendation. This is also notwithstanding the intervention of the Union government trying to break the dead-lock and resolve the impasse.

( 3 ) THE case in point, thus, is a classical example as to how clash of ego plays a role in creating stalemate and how this ego problem even glosses over the public interest which is put on back burner. In the process this genetic ego turns a blind eye on the future of the students, carrier of the employees and plight of the patients notwithstanding the constitutional mandateguaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India which has made efficacious and timely medical aid and advice to the citizens a fundamental Right, in view of the liberal and purposive interpretation of Article 21 which has made it a gem among the jewels constituting various Fundamental rights enshrined in Part III of the Constitution of india.

( 4 ) THE enthusiastic Forum i. e. the petitioner feeling alarmed by the pathetic malfunctioning of the government hospitals in the city, decided to conduct study into the state of affairs on the GTBH - UCMSB complex, Dilshad Garden, Shahdra which alone caters to nearly 35% of the population;of the capital city, mostly poor and living in Trans-Yamuna area inclduing the Asia s largest slums - Seema Puri, Nand Nagri and sunder Nagar. It found that Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital (hereinafter referred to as GTB Hospital, for short) was in news on 7/04/1997, when a front page story was taken out in a leading English daily new Delhi edition which revealed that the doctors of GTB hospital were forced to perform a delicate operation by torch light fol