AIIMS not meant for a stroll, says HC

The high court made the observation while rejecting a plea of an RTI activist, who was barred from entering the AIIMS premises, that he had an unrestricted and untrammelled right to visit the institution which was a public hospital.

"Undoubtedly, AIIMS is a public place. However, it is an institution meant for imparting education and medical treatment.

"It is not a place for busy bodies to saunter in whenever they like, without any business in the institution," Justice Vibhu Bakhru said.

The judge said the court was conscious of the volume of persons visiting AIIMS for medical treatment and prima facie, permitting any person to visit the premises without any business at all was likely to add further pressure on the institution and disrupt its functioning.

The court also said that such disruption would inevitably be at the cost of patients seeking medical treatment.

"Therefore, this court finds no infirmity with the decision of the AIIMS authorities restricting the entry of the petitioner to the AIIMS campus," the court said.

Petitioner Raj Narayan was restrained from entering the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) premises after he had joined a protest on February 4 last year with doctors and faculty members when permission to protest was only meant for the faculty members.

Narayan had approached the high court against the February 5 last year order of AIIMS authorties.