The Court held the West Bengal government strictly liable for medical negligence and gross infrastructural lapses noticed on the hospital's part.
A Division Bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Arjun Ray Mukherjee held that the right to eyesight flows directly from the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Constitutional courts can award monetary relief under public law without relegating impoverished victims to lengthy civil suits, the Court added.
"Undoubtedly, right to eye sight flows from the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India...
State is duty bound to provide all infrastructural facilities to run the State hospitals," the Court held.
The Court held the West Bengal government strictly liable for medical negligence and gross infrastructural lapses noticed on the hospital's part.
A Division Bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Arjun Ray Mukherjee held that the right to eyesight flows directly from the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Constitutional courts can award monetary relief under public law without relegating impoverished victims to lengthy civil suits, the Court added.
"Undoubtedly, right to eye sight flows from the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India... The claim of the citizen is based on the principle of strict liability to which the defence of sovereign immunity is not available... This is an act of constitutional tort. State is duty bound to provide all infrastructural facilities to run the State hospitals," the Court held.
