SINGH, J. - (1.) THIS writ petition has been filed by the late Shri Farooq Husan, retired Judge of this Court. He has prayed for a direction to the respondents to reimburse the amount of expenses incurred by the petitioner on account of the surgery which he underwent at the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi (hereinafter shall be referred to as "the Escorts Hospital") where he was admitted on 5. 7. 1996 for this purpose and was discharged after surgery on 8. 8. 1996 after the treatment. The certificate to that effect has been filed as Annexure 10 issued by the Escort Hospital.
(2.) THE petitioner being a retired Judge of this Court was a member of the Central Government Health Scheme (hereinafter shall be referred to as `the C. G. H. S. ') applicable to the retired Judges. The petitioner first approached the S. M. S. Hospital at Jaipur and vide Annexure-7 dated 11. 6. 1996, the petitioner was advised by the S. M. S. Hospital to go to Escorts Hospital for C. A. B. G. as he has been suffering from CAD - TUD and that facilities for the same are not available in any Government Hospital in Rajasthan. On the expression of the above opinion by the S. M. S. Hospital that facilities for the above treatment were not available at the relevant time in the Government Hospital in Rajasthan, as is evident from (Annexure 7), the petitioner approached the concerned Medical Officer of the C. G. H. S. at Jaipur and the Medical Officer of the C. G. H. S. , Jaipur also vide Annexure-8 dated 15. 6. 1996 sent a communication to the Medical Superintendent, Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi wherein it was mentioned as under:- " The patient whose particulars are given below may please be admitted to your Hospital/centre immediately. The bill in respect of his/her hospitalization may please be sent to the Directorate General of Health Services, New Delhi, direct in duplicate for payment along with this Memo, after completing the details required on the reverse. " Copy of this letter was also sent to the Director General of Health Services (C. G. H. S. Statistical Section), New Delhi for information. The said letter has been filed as Annexure -8. Along with the above, the petitioner was issued an office order dated 15. 6. 1996 by the office of Additional Director, C. G. H. S. , Jaipur which authorized the admission of the petitioner to the Escorts Hospital and sanction to that effect was issued by the aforesaid letter Annexure 9.
(3.) THE case of the petitioner is that since there was no time to get the amount sanctioned by way of advance from the C. G. H. S. , the petitioner directly approached the Escorts Hospital and was asked to deposit the amount of Rs. 2,00,000/- and only after depositing the amount he was admitted to the Hospital on 5. 7. 1996 where he eventually underwent the required surgery on 15. 7. 1996 and remained hospitalized till he was discharged on 8. 8. 1996. A certificate to that effect was issued by the Escorts Hospital on 3. 10. 1996 which has been filed as Annexure 10. THE case of the petitioner is that in the first instance, the bills for reimbursement were submitted to the office of the respondent No. 2, as mentioned in para 11 of the writ petition, in the month of September' 1996 but certain objections were pointed out and ultimately the required formalities were completed and an application was filed on 15. 01. 1997 which has been submitted as Annexure 12 to the writ petition. It is submitted that in spite of the above bills having been submitted for reimbursement, along with the bill of Escorts Hospital dated 8. 8. 1996 and the receipts of the payment amounting to Rs. 2,00,000/-, the petitioner has not received the reimbursement of the aforesaid amount. Consequently, the petitioner was constrained to file this writ petition for reimbursement of the amount which has been paid by the petitioner for the medical treatment to the Escort Heart Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi. A reply to the writ petition was filed by the respondents and the learned counsel for the respondent has submitted that, as has been mentioned in the reply, the petitioner has rushed to this court for the reimbursement of the amount whereas the case of the petitioner has so far not been finally decided. The attention in this behalf was drown to the contents of para 3 of the reply to the writ petition which read as follows:- " Moreover, the claim has not been refused so far. The petitioner has brought this petition before this Hon'ble High Court even before a decision could be taken by the competent authority on the medical claim presented after three months. Therefore, the writ petition is premature and deserves to be dismissed on this count alone. Attention was also drawn to the contents of para 21 of the reply to the writ petition, wherein it has been stated by the respondent, as follows:- " The reimbursement in reference to the medical claim of the petitioner is under process and the competent authority is yet to decide in accordance with the relevant rules and policy laid down by the Government of India. Therefore, the writ petition deserves to be dismissed on this count alone. " ;