C.W.P No. 10745 of 2007 ::1::
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
C.W.P No. 10745 of 2007
Date of decision : February 19, 2009
Smt Shail Bala Mittal,
...... Petitioner (s)
v.
The State of Haryana and others
...... Respondent(s)
***
CORAM : HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI
***
Present : Mr. Ravi Verma, Advocate
for the petitioner.
Mr. Harish Rathee, Sr. DAG Haryana
***
1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the
judgment ?
2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ?
3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ?
***
AJAY TEWARI, J
The petitioner who was a retired pensioner fell down and was
thereafter admitted to Fortis Hospital, Noida where she got both her knees
replaced. Her medical reimbursement case was rejected on the ground that
her treatment at the aforesaid hospital was not certified to be an emergency.
It may be noticed that the latest policy of the Haryana
Government dated 6.5.2005 on the subject broadly envisages that if
treatment is taken from a government hospital it shall be fully re-imbursed
and if treatment is taken from an approved hospital then the employee
would be liable to be reimbursed at the PGI/AIIMS rates plus 75% of the
C.W.P No. 10745 of 2007 ::2::
balance, if any. The third category as per this policy is of un-approved
hospital and any treatment taken therefrom is reimbursable at PGI rates
with, however, the condition that the same should be certified to be an
emergency treatment.
Counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance on a Division
Bench judgment of this Court in Mahipal Singh vs State of Haryana and
others, 2008(2) SCT 592, wherein it was held as follows :-
“8. xx xx xx
In a case where the life of a human being is at stake, it is
too technical to require such a person to hunt for a list of
the approved hospitals and then decide which hospital to
go in emergency situation. Sometimes such hospitals
may not be able to accommodate the patient and at that
time the attendant is not expected to first look into the
list of approved/recognized hospitals for medical
reimbursement and then proceed for treatment. Such
procedures should not be expected to be followed in an
emergency by the attendant of the patient. If such
regulations are applied so strictly, it would result in a
disastrous situation and the patient may die. The act
committed in an emergency should not be weighed in
terms of money, especially when human life is at stake.
The provision of free medical treatment or
reimbursement in lieu thereof being a beneficial act of
the welfare State for its employees, the rules/instructions
have to be construed liberally in favour of the employees,
C.W.P No. 10745 of 2007 ::3::
for granting them the relief. The authorities are not
supposed to adopt a wooden attitude and stick to
technicalities while dealing with human problems. There
can be no mathematical precision while dealing with
human beings……..”
Counsel for the petitioner has also relied on a Single Bench
judgment of this Court in Roshani Devi vs State of Haryana and others,
2002(4) RSJ 364, wherein it was held as follows :-
“5. ……. We all know that the treatment is a matter of
confidence between the patient and the doctor. Apollo
Hospital is also a hospital of repute in the Northern India.
It provides specialised treatment. Some specialties are
peculiar to a particular hospital. If a patient opts to go to
Apollo Hospital in order to get the genuine treatment,
expenditure on getting such treatment should not be
scuttled down on the technical ground that he had got the
treatment from a hospital which is not recognised.
Health is equally important not only to the public servant
but also to his family members.”
In my opinion, the present case is covered by the binding
precedents reproduced above. In the circumstances, this writ petition is
disposed of with a direction to the respondents to release medical re-
imbursement to the petitioner at PGI/AIIMS rates within two months from
the receipt of a certified copy of this order.
( AJAY TEWARI ) February 19, 2009. JUDGE `kk' C.W.P No. 10745 of 2007 ::4::