MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Centre to disclose the location of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Tamil Nadu before this year end.
A Bench comprising Justices K K Sasidharan and G R Swaminathan, while disposing the petition seeking to establish AIIMS in Madurai, said the State government had given a positive reply to all particulars required for the selection of site for establishing AIIMS in Tamil Nadu.
Recording the submission of the Central government’s counsel that the site would be identified as soon as possible, the Bench directed the Union Ministry of Health to expedite the frame work for selection of site for the new AIIMS through ‘challenging method’ and to disclose the proposed place where the hospital would be set up in the State on or before December 31.
Earlier, Baskaran of Madurai filed a public interest litigation petition stating that the Union government decided to set up AIIMS in Tamil Nadu. A team of several experts inspected the site for AIIMS in various districts and five locations were identified, in which Madurai had feasibility for setting up AIIMS. As there was no response from the Union and State governments regarding setting up of the facility, the petitioner sought for a court direction to set up AIIMs in Madurai.
During the hearing, State Principal Secretary for Health and Family Welfare Department J Radhakrishnan filed a counter affidavit that the State government was keen to ensure that an institution of the stature of AIIMS is established in Tamil Nadu and would provide all the required support for establishing it.