CWP No. 13701 of 2007 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. CWP No. 13701 of 2007 Date of decision: October 23, 2008 Kalu Singh --- Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others ---- Respondents CORAM: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ashutosh Mohunta Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajan Gupta Present: Mr. SPS Sidhu, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. BS Chahal, DAG, Punjab. Ashutosh Mohunta, J (Oral). The petitioner prays for quashing the order dated 7.4.2006(Annexure P4), vide which claim for medical reimbursement on account of the treatment received by his wife Nasib Kaur has been declined. The petitioner is working as regular Beldar in the department of Water Supply and Sanitation at Bathinda. His wife remained admitted as indoor patient at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital at Ludhiana from 12-9-2002 to 1-10-2002. She was operated upon and her right leg was amputated. The petitioner spent substantial amount on her treatment. The medical reimbursement bill has been rejected on the ground that the same has been submitted beyond the prescribed period of six months. The stand of the respondents is unsustainable in law as it is not disputed that the petitioner was a regular employee in the Department of Water Supply & Sanitation. His wife remained hospitalised from 12-9-2002 to 1-10-2002 and ultimately expired on 2-8-2003. The bill was submitted by the petitioner on 2-12-2003 vide Annexure P3, i.e. after the death of his wife. The facts that the wife CWP No. 13701 of 2007 2 of the petitioner had undergone an operation in which her right leg was amputated and ultimately she expired, goes to show that the petitioner was attending to her throughout her illness. The respondents should not have taken a hyper-technical objection while deciding his claim for reimbursement. In view of the above, we allow the present writ petition, quash the order Annexure P4 and direct respondent No. 4 to reimburse the entire medical claim submitted by the petitioner at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) rates within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. [Ashutosh Mohunta] Judge [Rajan Gupta] Judge October 23, 2008 `ask'