Patna High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to start the outpatient department (OPD) at JPNAIIMS by July.

Hearing a PIL, the bench of Justice T. Meena Kumari and Justice Vikash Jain, asked the Centre to start treatment at the OPD by July 31, 2013.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Council for Protection of Public Rights and Welfare, a non-government organisation, through its counsel Brajesh Kumar seeking expeditious completion of the Jai Prakash Narain All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The bench made it clear that if the contractor failed to hand over the OPD by July 31, the court would direct the Government of India to cancel the contract of BL Kashyap & Sons Ltd, which has been entrusted with the job of constructing the hospital.

After the court directed the contractor on Monday to tell it by Tuesday whether or not it was in a position to complete the hospital by March 31, 2013, the contractor reiterated its stand — as submitted in its affidavit on Monday — of completing the construction of two floors of the OPD block by July 2013, and the entire OPD by December 2013.

This angered the bench, which directed the contractor to complete the OPD by July 31, 2013, and hand it over to the authorities so that treatment could be started.

Expressing displeasure over the contractor’s reply, the bench observed that the contractor should wind up its work and the construction would be completed by the Union of India, which has, so far, taken a soft stand towards the contractor.

“We will make surprise visits any day,” the bench observed. It also directed the state government to appoint a team of auditors, which would inspect whether or not the money has been properly utilised or whether the work has been carried out in proportion to the funds released to the contractor or not for the hospital construction.

Appearing for the state, Shashi Bhushan Kumar said the government would inform the court about the appointment of the auditors’ team by March 18, the next date of hearing.

BL Kashyap in its affidavit had assured the court to complete the construction of all wings of the hospital building by March 31, 2014, while two floors of OPD block will be completed and handed over by July 31, 2013. The construction of the OPD block shall be completed by December 2013, the affidavit stated.

Six super specialty hospitals are being built in Rishikesh, Bhopal, Jodhpur, Bhubaneswar, Raipur and Patna on the lines of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi.