HC ‘happy’ over Delhi govt’s nod to implement central law to regulate path labs

The HC was hearing a batch of matters concerning the regulation of pathological labs in the Capital and the implementation of a law for the matter. During the last hearing on March 21, Bharadwaj and Kumar had personally appeared before the court and assured it that “a proper, fair, and reasonable system of regulation of pathology labs shall be put in place at the earliest”.

The bench on Thursday further noted that both the minister and secretary had agreed that in the “interregnum the Clinical Establishment (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, shall be adopted in the NCT of Delhi” in compliance with a July 21, 2023 letter of the Union Government and a May 30, 2022 order of the HC.

Noting the consensual decisions of the minister and the secretary, the bench, thereafter, closed the proceedings in the batch of matters. The bench thereafter directed the Delhi government to ensure that the “Gazette notification” for adoption of the 2010 Act is issued “expeditiously and no later than four weeks”.

On May 30, 2022, the HC had directed the state government to expedite the finalisation process of the Delhi Health Bill. It had also directed the government to consider the feasibility of implementing the Clinical Establishment (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, in the intervening period of the Bill’s finalisation if the “said process (it is) likely to take a long time”.