South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has decided to stand by its decision to prohibit levy of parking fee in hospitals. The leader of House in (SDMC) Shikha Rai said, "We are committed to providing free parking in hospitals and will take an appropriate action in this regard".
Rai also stated that we are not in favour of levying any parking fee in respect of patients and their family members in hospitals. She added that levying fees under the garb of maintenance charges is also a clear violation of Corporation's orders. "The decision to not charge any parking fee in hospitals was taken by the SDMC as per the opinion of the House," she said.
The move comes after the Delhi High Court on Monday sought to know the South Delhi Municipal Corporation's stand on a Public Interest litigation accusing it of deliberately ignoring illegal parking fee charged by shopping malls, hospitals and other commercial establishments in south Delhi.
While referring to a PIl filed in High Court, Rai clearly said that the Corporation will take an appropriate action as per rules against persons responsible for charging parking fee in the hospitals.
Earlier this month, in a meeting of the Standing Committee, the SDMC decided to take action against hospitals and directed all the District Commissioners (DCs) to prepare detailed reports of hospitals that were charging parking fees.