The Bombay High Court has taken a stern stance on alleged regulatory lapses, directing the Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai to conduct a high-level inquiry into the authenticity of the registration certificate issued to Millennium Hospital in Govandi. The court has also demanded the Maharashtra government present a concrete roadmap to tackle the proliferation of unregistered hospitals operating in the city.
Court's Directive and the Tragic Case
A division bench comprising Justices Manish Pitale and Manjusha Deshpande issued the order on December 2, acting on a criminal writ petition filed by Nasim Shah. Shah lost her 22-year-old son after he was admitted to the hospital, alleging gross medical negligence. Her plea sought criminal action against the hospital and an inquiry against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials for allegedly allowing the facility to function without proper registration.
The bench expressed prima facie conviction that neither the civic officials nor the hospital had presented the full facts regarding the Govandi hospital's certification. The inquiry, to be completed within six weeks, must specifically investigate how a certificate issued on September 20, 2024, could be backdated to April 13, 2022, and remain valid until March 31, 2027.
Discrepancies and Past Leniency
The court noted serious inconsistencies in the submissions made by the BMC and the hospital. In an affidavit filed in June 2025, the BMC's executive health officer claimed the registration certificate was genuine and issued under the Maharashtra Nursing Home Registration Act, 1949. However, the court observed that the physical certificate made no mention of a compliance approval date referenced in the affidavit.
Furthermore, the High Court found it surprising that Millennium Hospital, in its own affidavit from December 2024, made no reference to the registration certificate allegedly issued in September 2024. The bench rejected the BMC's explanation of "oversight and lack of inter-departmental coordination" as unsatisfactory for keeping the court in the dark.
The order highlighted that on three prior occasions, the hospital had faced minimal fines of only Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000 for operating without registration, a penalty the court suggested was too low to act as a deterrent under the existing law.
Broader Implications and State Accountability
Moving beyond the individual case, the High Court directed the state government to disclose steps to strengthen the BMC. The aim is to enable the civic body to "take strict action against such hospitals mushrooming and functioning without registration, thereby risking the lives of innocent patients." The court cited its own previous orders from February, noting that senior BMC officials had not treated the issue with due seriousness.
The BMC has now been instructed to inform the court about actions being taken against its own officers for the earlier misleading affidavits. Additionally, the state and the Medical Council of India, represented by advocate Ganesh Gole, have been directed to file affidavits within two weeks. They must submit a report from a committee of doctors and explain their stand on measures to curb the spread of unregistered hospitals.
The matter has been scheduled for a priority hearing on January 20, 2026. The comprehensive probe ordered at the "highest level" signifies the judiciary's growing impatience with systemic failures in healthcare regulation and its determination to enforce accountability.
