Times of India: Ahmedabad: Friday, June 23, 2017.
It was in
September 2015 that the charity commissioner had intervened and stayed the
civic body's grand plans to demolish the heritage structures of VS General and
Chinai Maternity Hospital. The building slated to fall under development's
hammer was once the 'dream project' of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for the city.
On June 14,
the charity commissioner stayed another attempt by the civic body to bifurcate
the 84-year-old trust and transfer its medical staff, 1,100-odd beds, and
assets to Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) floated Medical Education Trust
(MET). The charity commissioner will now hear the AMC on Friday to known the
reason why the civic body felt issuing such directions during the board meeting
of April 5, 2013 to bifurcate the VS hospital trust.
For almost
four years now the AMC has been avoiding giving an answer to the charity
commissioner for issuing the two controversial resolutions. By issuing a stay
on the resolutions the charity commissioner has sought justification from the
AMC for such directions. "We are hopeful of an order soon in the matter.
The hospital belongs to the poor in the present form and we intend to protect
their interests," said one of the trustees, Rupa Chinai.
In May 2016
the charity commissioner had issued notices to the mayor, municipal
commissioner and all trustees of the hospital. The notice had questioned why
regular audit reports were not submitted to the charity commissioner's office.
In a reply to
an RTI query posed by a Kalupur resident, Pankaj Bhatt, it was revealed that
for nearly three decades, the VS hospital has not been submitting audit reports
as mandated under the Gujarat Public Trust Act. The notice also seeks
explanations as to why two different trusts -VS Hospital and Medical Education
Trust - operate the hospital without any clarity. It has also sought
explanations on appointments made by the two trusts and their jurisdictions.
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