The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently took strong exception to a 13-minute power outage at Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, calling it a serious lapse in hospital infrastructure. The incident, which occurred on January 24, 2025, was brought to the court's attention through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Sunaina.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel expressed shock at the fact that the hospital lacked an automatic switch-over system, causing a delay in restoring power.

"It is not surprising but shocking to note that in a public establishment like a hospital, where an electric failure of even a few seconds can be fatal for patients on life support, the power supply was disrupted for 13 minutes. Though a backup was available, it took 2 minutes to function as it had to be operated manually," the Court observed.

During the hearing, the Court was informed that while the hospital does have a diesel generator (DG) set, the absence of an automatic switch-over mechanism meant that hospital staff had to manually start the generator, causing the delay.

The State of Punjab’s counsel could not provide a satisfactory explanation as to why hospitals were not equipped with automatic backup systems when many other public establishments already had them.

"Learned counsel for the State of Punjab is unable to satisfy us as to why this deficiency of automatic switch-over from the regular supply lines to the DG-Set was not available at the relevant point of time,"

The petitioner, Sunaina, also informed the Court that another power outage had occurred on February 4, 2025, raising concerns about repeated failures in power management at the hospital.

In light of these revelations, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Chief Secretary of Punjab to submit an affidavit

• The reasons behind the absence of an automatic power switch-over system in hospitals.
• A list of other public establishments that are equipped with such a system.
• An explanation as to why hospitals have been neglected in this regard.

"The affidavit of the Chief Secretary of Punjab is directed to be filed, containing details of other public establishments equipped with automatic switch-over and why not the hospitals," the Court stated.

The case is scheduled for further hearing on February 25, 2025.

Case Title: SUNAINA V-S STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS