PUNJAB STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD Vs. JASBIR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The respondent's son had problem of growth in his height which was, in medical terms, attributed to disease of pituitary glands. Injection Norditropin was prescribed for treatment. The claim of the respondent for reimbursement of the medical expenses incurred on purchase of the said injection to the tune of Rs. 3,13,200/- was rejected by the appellant-Board. The respondent, thereupon, filed a writ petition seeking a direction for reimbursement of the said amount with interest in the High Court. The writ petition was resisted primarily on the ground that the policy of the Board was not to reimburse expenses on "imported medicines."

(3.) The High Court noticed that the drug in question was not available in India and that the same was an imported drug. The High Court, however, allowed the writ petition observing that the respondent's son had a serious problem and that since the imported drug had been duly prescribed by the doctor at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Chandigarh the respondent was entitled to be reimbursed for the expenses incurred in purchasing the imported drug. The Bench observed: