The Supreme Court has imposed a stay on the directive of the high court to the managing director of the firm constructing JPNAIIMS to appear before it in person.

The managing director had to appear before the high court to explain the delay in the construction of the hospital.

A division bench comprising Justice Prakash Chandra Verma and Justice Aditya Kumar Trivedi, which is hearing the PIL, was informed by BL Kashyap & Sons Ltd — the construction firm — counsel that the apex court has stayed the order for the MD’s appearance passed by the high court.

While fixing August 24 for hearing the matter, the bench asked the firm to submit a copy of the petition filed in the SC on the next date.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by the council for protection of public rights and welfare seeking completion of Jai Prakash Narayan All India Institute of Medical Sciences within a stipulated time ie. to make the hospital operational by October 2, 2012.

After perusing the report of the Patna district magistrate, who was also appointed as the deputy director, administration, of JPNAIIMS by the court, the bench had expressed its anguish over the slow pace of work at the hospital and directed the construction company’s managing director to appear before it on August 22 to explain the delay.

The court had also directed the joint secretary of the ministry of health and family welfare to appear before it following the firm’s submission that the Centre was not co-operating with it in providing design of the hospital.

“The court is left with no option but to call the managing director of the company to appear in person on August 22 so that we may initiate contempt proceedings against him for non-compliance of successive orders passed by this court earlier in this writ petition as well as to recommend the matter to the chief judicial magistrate concerned to initiate criminal proceedings for prosecution,” the bench had said in its last order.

The report, prepared by the district magistrate, who visited the construction site of JPNAIIMS, Phulwarisharif, on August 6 and inspected the progress of the work, stated: “It was pertinent that the overall progress of the hospital work is about 40 to 45 per cent. In the hospital block, the brick work is about 22 to 25 per cent complete but the plastering work has just commenced.”

After going through the reports of Patna district magistrate and the high court committee, which also talked about slow pace of work at JPNAIIMS hospital, the court asked why not a criminal case be lodged against the construction company or why not its contract be cancelled for not completing the construction work of the JPNAIIMS hospital.

The construction work of the hospital was to be completed by September 10, 2012.