Cost imposed on petitioner seeking shifting of vet hosp

Holding that the location of a hospital is the exclusive domain of the government, a division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad said, “a petitioner cannot insist that a hospital constructed earlier should remain in the same place to suit the convenience of the villagers. Even according to the petitioner, the hospital is situated just three kms away from the village.”

The petitioner KS Palanisamy had submitted that in Punjaikalamangalam village, Modakurichi Taluk, there was a pond and the government had located the  Veterinary Hospital near it. MGR had inaugurated the hospital in 1986. But, in 2017, the Erode Collector passed an order to close the hospital and shift the same to Ganapathipalayam, because the pond must be desilted. Now that the pond has been desilted, the hospital must be shifted to its original place, he said.

“Hospital located at the original place was closed in 2017. Petitioner has no constitutional or statutory right to demand that his representation should be considered and that the functioning of the Veterinary Hospital should be restored to its original place,” the bench added.