LUCKNOW, Sept. 26 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Friday said that hospitals and doctors cannot refuse or delay treatment to someone injured in a road accident on the ground that medico-legal formalities or police procedures have not been completed.

The division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla passed the order on September 25 on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one Anju Prakash Srivastava in 2000.

The court directed the UP government to file its counter-affidavit (reply) within 10 days, detailing the steps taken to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court's directions and the guidelines issued by the Centre regarding treatment of road accident victims.

It hence directed the state to ...