JADO RAM Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition was filed on 23.11.1994 for issue of a direction to the respondents to quash Annexure P-7 and to direct the respondents to pay Rs. 1,20,615.15 by way of medical reimbursement along with interest and Rs. 10,000/- as travelling expenses which the petitioner is said to have incurred on his treatment for heart ailment at Batra Hospital, New Delhi. Notice of motion was issued by this Court on November 24,1994. The Court admitted the writ petition on 28.2.1995. At the same time, the Court directed the respondents to pay Rs. 75,000/- to the petitioner towards the medical reimbursement subject to final decision of the writ petition.

(2.) After more than one year of the admission of the writ petition, the case could be taken up for final hearing and it is a matter of regret that the learned counsel for the petitioner has not even thought it proper to appear and argue the case on behalf of the petitioner. Often it has been noticed by the Court that the learned counsel do not appear when the cases are taken up for regular hearing. This obviously results in delay in the decision of the cases. We hope that in future the members of the legal fraternity would be more vigilant in discharging their obligation towards the litigating public else a situation may arise in which the present day system of administration of justice may become. irrelevant.

(3.) The petitioner joined service as Forest Guard. He retired from service on 30.11.1994. In the year 1992, the petitioner suffered he problem. Initially he took treatment from private doctors. Due to ill-health the petitioner sought voluntary retirement but the same was declined the Government. The petitioner suffered a mild heart-attack on 30.11.199. while he was in office. He was thereafter treated by doctors of Rajind Hospital, Patiala. There he was advised to get treatment from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (hereafter referred to 'A.I.I.M.S.'). The Civil Surgeon, Patiala recommended the case of the petitioner for specialised treatment at A.I.I.M.S. In order to meet with the expenses of treatment at A.I.I.M.S., the petitioner submitted an application (Annexure P3) for release of a sum of Rs. 75000/- by way of advance. However, neither the parent employer nor the employer where the petitioner was on deputation responded to his request. In between the petitioner again suffered a heart attack on 23.4.1994 while he was at Delhi. Therefore, he got himself admitted at Batra Hospital, New Delhi. Open heart byepass surgery was performed on the petitioner on 28.4.1994. After. having been discharged from the hospital, the petitioner submitted application dated 6.6.1994 to the Managing Director, Punjab State Forests Development Corporation, Chandigarh for reimbursement of the expenses incurred by him. On 23.5.1994, Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, conveyed his sanction for treatment of the petitioner from A.I.I.M.S. But, by that time, the petitioner had already underwent open heart byepass surgery. Thereafter the Respondents continued to correspond with each other but the petitioner's claim for reimbursement has not been accepted. Rather, vide Annexure P7 dated 2D.10.1994 the Divisional Manager, Mohali under whom the petitioner was working, informed that petitioner's claim for reimbursement cannot be accepted because he has taken treatment directly from non-Government hospital. The petitioner says that he was forced to get treatment at a private hospital because he could not arrange for a advance money to be deposited at A.I.I.M.S. and he could not have waited for long time because it was diagnosed that he was suffering from triple vessel disease.