SC orders closure of path lab in Delhi's residential area

Leading pathological laboratory Dr Dang's Diagnostic Centre has been ordered by the Supreme Court to shut down one of its centres, located in a posh residential area here, for causing sound and air pollution.
"Due to the running of the Pathological Lab by the respondent-owners air, sound pollution is created rampantly on account of which the public resident health and peace has been adversely affected. Therefore, public interest is affected and there is violation of rule of law," a bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and C Nagappan said.
It asked the owners of the diagnostic centre to close down its facility being run at south Delhi's posh Hauz Khas locality from 1995 within four weeks.

The apex court said that both MCD and DPCC "abdicated" their statutory duties in permitting the owners to carry on with the unlawful activities.
"It is necessary for us to make an observation here that the conduct of the MCD and the DPCC for their inaction is highly deplorable as they have miserably failed to discharge their statutory duties on account of which there has been a blatant violation of the rule of law and thereby a large number of residents of the locality are suffering on account of the unlawful activities of the respondent-owners, whose activities are patronised by both the authorities," the bench said.

The court also quashed the Regularisation Certificate issued by MCD under Mixed Land Use for running the Pathological Lab as there was a lot of "inconsistency" within the document.
"The issuance of Regularisation Certificate to run the Pathological Lab in the building is totally impermissible in law even though the respondent-owners have placed reliance upon Mixed Use of the land in the area as per MPD 2021...," the bench said.