JUDGMENT

Harjit Singh Bedi, J.—

1. This judgment will dispose of Civil Appeal No 4119 of 1999 and Civil Appeal No. 3126 of 2000 filed by the complainant, Prasanth S. Dhananka . The facts are as under :

2. The respondent Prasant S. Dhananka (hereinafter called the “complainant”), then 20 years of age and a student of Engineering, complaining of recurring fever was examined in the hospital run by the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited as his father was employed with that Organisation. As the cause of the fever could not be identified, he visited the appellant - Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) on 9th September, 1990 in the evening OPD. He was examined by one Dr. Ashish Boghani, a Chest and Tuberculosis Specialist and was advised to undergo on ultrasound guided biopsy for Neurofibroma, an innocent tumour, after an X-ray revealed a mass in the left hemithorax with posterior mediastinal erosion of the left 2nd, 3rd and 4th ribs. As several attempts at Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) under ultra sound guidance did not give any conclusive evidence as to the nature of the mass detected in the X-ray examination, the complainant was referred (on 5th October, 1990) for further