FIR against Ganga Ram Hospital: Delhi HC stays all proceedings till plea to quash it is decided

The Delhi High Court today stayed all proceedings related to the FIR registered against the medical superintendent of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for allegedly not following norms pertaining to the collection of COVID-19 test samples. The stay shall remain in operation till the petition to quash the FIR is finally decided by the court, legal news website BarandBench.com has reported.

Based on the existence of a prima facie case, balance of convenience, and possibility of irreparable loss, a Single Judge Bench of Justice C Hari Shankar said that Ganga Ram Hospital's plea for stay on the FIR deserved to be allowed.

The court clarified that its findings are only prima facie in nature and could not be deemed to be a decision on the merits of the case.

The court had earlier ordered a stay on the proceedings consequent to the FIR till today.

An FIR under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against the medical superintendent, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for allegedly flouting the Delhi government's order on mandatory usage of a digital platform called 'RT PCR app' for transmitting and sharing data on the collection of COVID-19 test samples.

The hospital had explained that it was unable to transmit this data through the RT-PCR app, as it could not register on it due to operational constraints. It stated that all data was sent to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) as well as the Delhi government manually through email.

The hospital had also argued that there was neither "disobedience" nor was there any consequent obstruction, annoyance or injury to a person in terms of Section 188 IPC.