New Delhi, Oct. 30 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday warned the Delhi government of contempt proceedings for failing to monitor and submit reports on whether private hospitals in the city, which received land at concessional rates, are complying with its directive to provide free treatment to patients from economically weaker sections (EWS). A bench of justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul M Pancholi empasised that under its July 2018 judgment, the government is obligated to file periodic compliance reports showing that such hospitals are reserving 10% of in-patient (IPD) beds and 25% of out-patient (OPD) services for EWS patients. To be sure, the 2018 ruling had made clear that any violation would amount to contempt of court and could lead to the cancellation of the hospitals' leases. Appearing for the Delhi government, advocate Piyush Beriwal admitted that no such compliance report had been filed since 2019. "We will issue contempt against you. Why didn't you file your report?" the bench said, observing that the matter directly concerns access to healthcare for "poor and vulnerable sections of society". The bench rebuked the government for attempting to shift the responsibility to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), noting that the duty to monitor and report compliance lies squarely with the Delhi health department. "Don't pass the buck to the DDA. You are putting everything on DDA for nothing. The July 9, 2018 order required you to file periodical reports on compliance of the hospitals," the court, said directing Delhi government's health secretary to submit the compliance status in the form of an affidavit without further delay, and listed the matter for November 19. Earlier in the hearing, advocate Nitin Mishra, appearing for DDA, informed the court that it had already submitted a status report listing hospitals that received land at subsidised rates. The bench made it clear that while DDA's data is relevant, the responsibility to ensure and verify free-treatment quotas rests with the Delhi government. The matter has seen repeated disputes between the Delhi government and DDA. In an order on August 19, 2025, the court had noted that the Delhi government had written multiple letters in 2019 seeking data and action against hospitals that failed to meet their EWS quota commitments, including Max Saket, Metro Hospital Narela, Wockhardt Pitampura and Muthoot Dwarka. But DDA, the government claimed, had not provided the information. DDA's report further noted that some other hospitals mentioned in the August order, including Max Saket and Metro Hospital, were allotted land through auction and that it is for the Delhi government to issue suitable instructions to these hospitals to provide free treatment to EWS patients under its existing policies and guidelines. The report said a total of 51 private hospitals in Delhi were allotted government land at subsidised or concessional rates. The Supreme Court's 2018 ruling reinstated the obligation of such hospitals to provide free treatment, overturning a 2014 Delhi High Court judgment that had relaxed the requirement. The decision stemmed from a PIL alleging that several hospitals had reneged on their promise despite benefiting from prime government land sold at below-market prices....