The AP High Court has asked whether it is wrong to build medical colleges through public-private partnership? The bench, which recalled that the construction of court buildings has stalled due to lack of funds, commented that the PPP decision may have been taken due to lack of funds. It refused to stay the finalization of tenders.
The High Court has ruled that it cannot interfere with the decision taken by the state government to build and operate 10 medical colleges in the state through public-private partnership. The High Court heard a petition filed by Vasundhara of Tadepalli in Guntur district challenging the GO issued by the government on September 9 to develop Adoni, Madanapalle, Markapuram, Pulivendula, Penukonda, Palakollu, Amalapuram, Narsipatnam, Bapatla and Parvathipuram medical colleges in the state through PPP mode.
Vasundhara’s lawyer Sriram argued that medical colleges are being privatized at the expense of public interest. He said that the company that won the bid will run the college for 33 years. He explained that during the previous government’s tenure, administrative approvals were given to 12 medical colleges with an estimated cost of Rs 5,800 crore.
Responding at this stage, the bench asked whether administrative approvals would be enough? Should funds be released? Shouldn’t the state government be in a position to spend such a large amount of money? It commented. The bench said that the state government may have decided to build under the PPP model due to lack of funds.
The bench said that the government will have to go to banks for funds and recalled that the construction of court buildings in the districts has also been stalled due to lack of funds. The court said that it would take years for the government to build medical colleges and hospitals when there is no money, but it would never be possible to build colleges when there is money.
It strongly commented that everyone should act constructively in such matters, otherwise government medical colleges and hospitals will never develop. Isn’t it better to have government participation instead of handing over the construction of medical colleges completely to the private sector?
The bench ruled that the construction of hospitals under the PPP model was a policy decision of the government, and that courts should not interfere in government policy decisions except in decisions that are unconstitutional and illegal.
