Human Rights Panel Summons Top MCGM Health Officials Over Hospital MLC Registers
The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission has issued summons to two senior Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) health officials after they failed to appear to present policies governing Medico-Legal Case (MLC) musters, following a complaint originating from M. W. Desai Municipal General Hospital in Malad (East).
The summons were issued to the Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Public Health) and the Chief Medical Superintendent of Peripheral Hospitals. The Commission warned that failure to appear on the next hearing date, scheduled for August 27, would result in legal action.
The proceedings stem from a complaint filed by Sinhal Ganvir, which alleged that several smaller civic hospitals, including M. W. Desai Municipal General Hospital in Malad (East), had not been maintaining MLC registers for years. According to the complaint, doctors at these facilities turned away patients requiring medico-legal documentation and referred them to other hospitals simply for registration, causing unnecessary inconvenience and sometimes resulting in the police not being notified.
In response to the complaint, Dr Jairaj S. Acharya, Senior Medical Officer, submitted an undated report from the Chief Medical Officer of M. W. Desai Municipal General Hospital. The report confirmed that the hospital has now begun maintaining an MLC muster and treating medico-legal cases. Between October 2025 and March 2026, the hospital recorded 208 MLC patients.
Dr Acharya informed the Commission that prior to October 2025, the facility did not maintain an MLC muster due to an understanding that only hospitals equipped with casualty wards were required to keep such records. Following the complaint, the hospital introduced Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), trained its staff on ethical obligations and patient rights, and started handling MLC cases directly.
While the Commission accepted that the situation at the Malad (East) hospital had been resolved, it noted that a broader administrative issue persisted across the municipal health network. To determine whether other MCGM-run hospitals follow uniform policies for MLC muster maintenance, the Commission directed the senior civic health officials to furnish complete regulatory and procedural details.
