India, Sept. 14 -- The Supreme Court has put a final judicial seal on the liability of doctors and hospitals under consumer protection law, as it dismissed a curative petition challenging its landmark 1995 ruling that had brought medical services within the ambit of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).

A five-judge bench of justices Vikram Nath, BV Nagarathna, MM Sundresh, Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan dismissed the curative petition filed by Dr Rajeev D Joshi of the Medico Legal Society of India, holding that no case was made out within the parameters laid down for entertaining a curative petition.

The brief order, passed on September 9, effectively closes the latest challenge to the 1995 judgment in Indian Medical Association...