The Supreme Court on Tuesday told Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi that it will direct the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to take over its management if it did not fulfill its commitment in its lease agreement to provide free treatment to poor patients, The Indian Express reported.

The hospital was built on 15 acres of land given on a symbolic lease of Re 1, according to the newspaper. The lease agreement establishing the hospital had stipulated that its management provide facilities to the poor.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and NK Singh also ordered the Union and Delhi governments to form a joint committee to “find out if poor people are being treated there or this land has been grabbed for private interest”.

The court told the Centre and Delhi government to discuss the matter at the highest level. “…If need be, we will ask AIIMS to run the hospital,” it said.

The bench gave Indraprastha Apollo Hospital four weeks to submit an affidavit explaining its stand.

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by Indraprastha Medical Corporation Limited, which runs the hospital, against a 2009 order issued by the Delhi High Court, The Indian Express reported.

As per the lease agreement, Indraprastha Medical Corporation Limited was required to provide free medical diagnostic facilities and other necessary care to at least one-third of its total capacity of 600 beds, according to the newspaper.

In addition, the agreement also said that the hospital would provide free medical diagnostic and other necessary facilities to 40% of its patients at the Outpatient Department.

The All India Lawyers Union had filed a petition in the High Court claiming that these conditions in the agreement were being flouted.

In an order on September 22, 2009, the High Court had said that “there has been hardly any implementation of the conditions of the agreement providing for free treatment to indoor and outdoor patients”.

It directed the hospital “to provide one-third of the free beds i.e. 200 beds with adequate space and necessary facilities to the indoor patients and also to make necessary arrangements for free facilities to 40% of the outdoor patients”, according to The Indian Express.

At the hearing on Tuesday against the High Court order, the Supreme Court said that the hospital was to be run on a “no profit and no loss” formula. However, it turned instead into a purely commercial venture where the poor could hardly afford treatment, the bench added.

The counsel representing Indraprastha Medical Corporation Limited told the bench that the hospital was being run as a joint venture and added that the Delhi government also had a 26% shareholding in it, The Indian Express reported.

To this, Kant said: “If the Delhi government is earning profit from the hospital instead of taking care of the poor patients, it is the most unfortunate thing.”

The land on which the hospital was built was given on a 30-year lease that was to expire in 2023, the Supreme Court said.

It directed the Union government to find out if the lease had been renewed and asked “what lawful recourse has been initiated for restoration of government land” if it had not.

It then permitted the hospital to explain its stand in the affidavit. “The affidavit will explain how many poor patients on the recommendation of the state authorities were provided indoor and outdoor treatment in the last five years,” the Supreme Court order said.