After 177 yrs, JJ seeks transfer of land

It was registered in the name of Secretary of State for India in Council (which no longer exists) in 1858

MUMBAI: More than 75 years after Independence, the administration of India’s second oldest medical college and hospital— Grant Medical College and Sir J J Group of Hospitals—has approached the Mumbai collector to transfer the land its name or in the name of the state government. The hospital building and medical college is in the name of Secretary of State for India in Council, a post created by the British in 1858 after the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny.

While previous administrative heads were privy to the knowledge that the land does not officially belong to the JJ administration or the state, its present management wants to hurry the process to grapple with alleged encroachments around the hospital.

The hospital’s administrative officers have swung into action, and are digging up old records. They have asked the city collector to carry out a survey and measure the area of the hospital to stop future encroachments. The medical college and hospital stand on approximately 40 acres of land with 70-80 buildings (housing resident doctors, anatomy building, nursing college, staff and teachers’ accommodation etc.) “The survey will help us measure our land and put the name of the government on the records. Right now the entity in whose name the hospital is no longer exists,” said Dr Pallavi Saple, dean of the medical college and hospital.

Dr Saple said the ownership of land was important for logistical purposes as well, “should we need to construct any building”. “Additionally, the National Medical Commission also needs records whether it is a government land etc. The institution has completed 177 years and it is about time we change the records,” she said.

An official from the Collector’s office has confirmed the development and that officers are sifting through land records, adding that they will next check the land records of Cama and Albless Hospital and St George Hospital as well.