Reimburse court staffer for Covid spend: Delhi High Court to govt

The judicial officer Dinesh Kumar, an additional district judge at Saket court, was admitted to a private hospital in the national capital between April 22 and June 7, 2021 for treatment and was put on a ventilator for three weeks. While he had to pay ₹24,02,380 to the hospital, the government reimbursed him for only ₹7,08,500

The Delhi high court has directed the state government to reimburse a senior judicial officer ₹16 lakh for expenses incurred when he was treated for Covid-19 during the second wave of the pandemic in 2021.

In a judgment on Tuesday, justice Rekha Palli refused to accept the submission of the Delhi government’s counsel that the private hospital where the judge was treated should explain why it charged a higher amount than that prescribed in a government circular. (PTI)

The judicial officer Dinesh Kumar, an additional district judge at Saket court, was admitted to a private hospital in the national capital between April 22 and June 7, 2021 for treatment and was put on a ventilator for three weeks. While he had to pay ₹24,02,380 to the hospital, the government reimbursed him for only ₹7,08,500 on the grounds that the hospital had ignored the charges the government fixed for treatment of Covid-19 patients. He approached the high court against the government’s refusal to reimburse the full amount.

In a judgment on Tuesday, justice Rekha Palli refused to accept the submission of the Delhi government’s counsel that the private hospital where the judge was treated should explain why it charged a higher amount than that prescribed in a government circular. The counsel had sought that the hospital be directed to refund the “overcharged” amount of ₹16, 93,880.

The court, however, noted that during April-May 2021, when residents of Delhi were struggling to get hospital beds and there was a huge shortage of oxygen, the petitioner had no other option but to seek treatment at a private hospital.

“One shudders to think what fate the petitioner would have met if he had not, at that point, been treated at the hospital,” the high court said, while directing the Delhi government to pay the balance amount of over ₹16 lakh within four weeks.

The high court said that the authorities are justified in asserting that the hospital charged much beyond what was prescribed in the circular of June 20, 2020 issued by the Delhi government.

“This court does not deem it appropriate or necessary to delve into the validity of the circular, in the present petition, where an officer of Delhi Higher Judicial Service is seeking simpliciter reimbursement of the amount for the bona fide expenses incurred by him for treatment at the hospital for Covid-19,” it said.

“I have no hesitation in holding that the respondent nos.1 to 3 (Delhi government authorities) ought to forthwith reimburse the petitioner by paying him the differential amount of ₹16,93,880, and if permissible, recover the same from the hospital,” the court added.