COIMBATORE: After Madras High Court judge M Dhandapani directed anticipatory bail petitioners to pay penalty to ESI Hospital in Coimbatore for its welfare last year, more judges are now following suit, with a HC judge ordering two petitioners to pay a sum of Rs 1.05 lakh to the hospital’s dean recently.
In order to curb the illegal activities of smuggling tobacco products, the court directed the petitioners to deposit the penalty as a non-refundable deposit to the hospital in different judgments, according to the sources.
“It is highly commendable that a Madras HC justice, who did not wish to be named, is ordering the petitioners, who were involved in several malpractice and were seeking anticipatory bail, to pay the penalty amount directly to the dean’s account for the hospital’s welfare. The money deposited by the anticipatory bail seekers will be spent on the development of the hospital,” said hospital dean Dr M Raveendran.
He said the bail seekers will visit the hospital and hand over the money to him, which will be used to buy dump bins for the campus. The penalised people include the persons arrested and remanded to judicial custody under COTPA for illegal possession of banned tobacco products.
According to the dean, while the court directed one accused who possessed 101 kg of banned tobacco products to pay a penalty of Rs 1 lakh, another accused who possessed less quantity of tobacco was directed to pay Rs 5,000 to the hospital.
The hospital has received a sum of Rs 3.8 lakh through fines deposited by several anticipatory bail petitioners based on the directions of HC judge M Dhandapani as a Covid-19 relief fund last year. The money was then used to set up a central oxygen supply plant in the then newly created Covid ward to treat infected patients.