Supreme Court defers hearing in GTB Hospital case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court deferred hearing on an appeal against a Delhi HC order of October 2018 striking down an order passed by the medical director of Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) hospital disallowing medical treatment to non-residents of Delhi.

The Delhi government had sought to apply the same rule in all hospitals recently to restrict access to treatment during the Covid-19 pandemic to Delhi residents. However, the lieutenant governor quashed the rule.

Any decision in the GTB case will impact the decisions taken in this regard in the future.


The GTB director had issued an order saying that those who do not have valid voter ID cards will be treated as non-Delhi patients and not allowed to avail themselves of certain facilities for treatment.

The HC had struck down the order as violative of articles 14 (equality) and right to health under Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution. It had held that such a classification between individuals as residents and non-residents for the purpose of providing medical facilities was unreasonable. The Delhi government had appealed against the decision.