IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.952-CAT of 2007 Date of Decision : January 13, 2011 Union of India and others ....Petitioners Versus Haravtar Singh and another .....Respondents CORAM : HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE M.M. KUMAR HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE T.P.S. MANN Present : Mr.Namit Kumar, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. H.S. Saini, Advocate for respondent No.1. T.P.S. Mann, J. The petitioners are aggrieved of the order dated 27.1.2006 passed by the Chandigarh Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (for short ‘the Tribunal’), whereby the Original Application filed by respondent No.1 claiming full medical reimbursement had been allowed. Respondent No.1/original applicant, while working as Electrician (S.K.), suddenly suffered a heart attack on 29.3.2003 and immediately rushed to the closest private hospital, namely, Tagore Heart Care and Research Centre Pvt. Limited, Jalandhar as there was no facility of C.G.H.S. Card at Jalandhar Cantt. In view of his serious condition, he was advised to undergo Civil Writ Petition No.952-CAT of 2007 Coronary Angiography followed by PTCA (Ballooning Angioplasty) with stent implantation. On the same day, he was operated upon and his life was saved. However, he remained admitted in the hospital from 29.3.2003 to 2.4.2003. After his discharge from the hospital, respondent No.1 submitted his medical bills for a sum of Rs.1,70,276/- for reimbursement. As the petitioners kept on delaying the payment of the medical bills, respondent No.1 preferred O.A. No.841/PB/2004 which was disposed of by the Tribunal by directing the petitioners to decide the representation submitted by him within a time bound period. Despite the same, the petitioners kept on seeking time to implement the orders. Ultimately, his claim was referred to Civil Surgeon, Jalandhar to find out as to whether his case was of real emergency or not. The case further came to be referred to Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab to accord approval for ex post facto sanction. However, the sanction was granted on 7.1.2005 for an amount of Rs.1,42,450/- as per the revised rates of AIIMS, New Delhi/government rules applicable to Punjab Government employees as per instructions dated 14.2.1995 of the State government. The balance amount of Rs.27,826/- was not released to respondent No.1. Vide impugned order, the Tribunal came to the conclusion that the case of respondent No.1 for reimbursement of his medical claim was required to be considered under CS (MA) Rules and instructions issued thereunder from time to -2- Civil Writ Petition No.952-CAT of 2007 time. Therefore, there was no need to get ex post facto sanction from the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab in the present case taking into consideration that the relevant provisions were already there in the CS (MA) Rules for the payment of said medical reimbursement for the treatment taken in private hospital if the same was found to be less than the amount incurred for the treatment in the private recognized hospital in emergent cases. Accordingly, petitioners No.2 and 3 were directed to look into this aspect for payment of balance amount of the medical claim in the light of Rule 2 and Appendix-VIII of CS (MA) Rules which was otherwise not taken into consideration while referring the matter to the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, and, after verification of the medical bills, to pass appropriate orders for payment of balance amount to respondent No.1, if it was found that the medical expenses incurred by him were less than the amount to be incurred if the treatment was taken in the private recognized hospital. Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the medical expenses have been reimbursed as per the ex post facto sanction granted on 7.1.2005 by the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab by releasing a sum of Rs.1,42,450/- to respondent No.1. The letter dated 7.1.2005 of Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab has not been disputed nor respondent No.1 had challenged the same and, therefore, he is -3- Civil Writ Petition No.952-CAT of 2007 not entitled to the medical reimbursement over and above the amount sanctioned by the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab. It is a fact that respondent No.1/applicant is a Central Government employee. As such his claim for medical reimbursement is required to be examined as per CS (MA) Rules. The sanction granted by the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab to pay medical expenses, even if competent, has to be in terms of the rules applicable to an employee of the Central Government. Therefore, reliance on the said sanction and to restrict the claim of respondent No.1 for medical reimbursement in terms of the Punjab Rules is wholly unfounded. The Tribunal was, therefore, justified in directing the petitioners to consider the claim of respondent No.1 for medical reimbursement in terms of CS (MA) Rules. In view of the above, we are of the view that no interference is called for by this Court in exercise of its writ jurisdiction in the order passed by the Tribunal. The petition is, accordingly, dismissed. ( M.M. KUMAR ) ( T.P.S. MANN ) January 13, 2011 JUDGE JUDGE satish -4-