Reimburse dead govt staff’s wife his med expenses: HC

Madurai: The Madras high court has directed an insurance company to reimburse a woman the medical expenses of her deceased husband on the ground that he was registered under the insurance scheme and the monthly insurance premium was deducted from his salary.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Nesamani who sought the authorities to reimburse the amount, which he spent towards his medical expenses.Since the petitioner died during the pendency of the petition, his wife Glory Florance was substituted as the petitioner.
Nesamani joined the transport corporation in 1978 as a driver. He has enrolled under Tamil Nadu Government Employees New Health Insurance Scheme from the day of its inception and the monthly premium of Rs 25 was recovered from the salary of the petitioner’s husband every month by the transport corporation and the said amount was also paid to the insurance company.
He was admitted to a private hospital in Nagercoil where he underwent a surgery for heart ailment in 2011. Subsequently, he submitted an application in 2012 seeking reimbursement of Rs 1,42,000, which he spent towards the medical expenses.
However, the same was not reimbursed on the ground that the government had fixed May 2011 as the last date for uploading the employee details on the website of treasuries and accounts department in respect of people appointed before March 31, 2011. In the absence of the ID number of the petitioner, they were unable to respond to the claim of the petitioner.
Justice M Dhandapani observed that since the transport corporation has paid the amount to the insurance company, which was deducted from the salary of the petitioner towards health insurance and a proof has also been filed to that effect, the insurance company is liable to pay the expenses incurred by the petitioner for his medical treatment.
Taking into account that the petitioner died during the pendency of the petition, the judge directed the insurance company to reimburse his wife the medical expenses within six weeks.