Central Administrative Tribunal - Chandigarh
P.C. Gupta Son Of Shri Kulwant Rai vs Union Of India Through Secretary on 17 October, 2012
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL CHANDIGARH BENCH ORIGINAL APPLICATION NO.707/CH/2012 Chandigarh, this the 17TH day of October, 2012 CORAM: HON'BLE MRS. PROMILLA ISSAR, MEMBER (A). 1. P.C. Gupta son of Shri Kulwant Rai, age 76 years, Deputy Postmaster (Retired) resident of Hounse No.5030A, Sector 38, West, Chandigarh. 2. Jai Parkash son os Shri Basant Lal, aged 76 years, Stamp Vendor (Retired), Resident of House No.D-5, Sector 30-B, Chandigarh. 3. Prem Chand Ahuja son of Shri Karam Chand, aged 65 years, Sub Postmaster (Retired), Resident of House No.168/5, Pishori Mohalla, Bhagro Camp, Jalandhar City. 4. Lajpat Rai Sharma son of Shri Nand Lal Sharma, aged 70 years, Deputy Postmaster, Head Office (Retired), resident of House No.127, Maharaja Garden, Leather Complex Road, Jalandhar City. Applicants Versus 1. Union of India through Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi. 2. Director, Central Government Health Scheme, Room No.545, 5th Floor, A-Wing, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi. 3. Additional Director, Central Government Health Scheme, 4th Floor, Kendriya Sadan, Sector-9, Chandigarh. Respondents Present: Sh. Manohar Lal, counsel for the applicants. Sh. Rakesh Verma, counsel for the respondents. O R D E R (Oral)
BY HON'BLE MRS. PROMILLA ISSAR, MEMBER (A)
1. The applicants have filed the present O.A. seeking directions to the respondents to extend CGHS facilities to them on payment of the usual subscription fee and to issue CGHS cards to them so that they may avail of CGHS facilities at par with other Central Government pensioners.
2. The respondents have filed a reply in which they have controverted the claim of the applicants on various grounds.
3. There is no need to go into the detailed facts of the case, since the issue involved in the present case is no longer res integra and has been decided in a number of cases by this Tribunal, namely in O.A. No.396/HR/2012 titled Iqbal Singh Bhatia and Ors. Vs. Union of India & Others decided on 01.8.2012, in O.A. No.272/CH/2009 titled Prem Nath Malhotra & Ors. Vs. Union of India and others decided on 29.9.2009, in O.A. No.11/CH/2010 titled R.K. Vinayak and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Others decided on 07.4.2010, in O.A. No.79/CH/2011 titled Raj Kumar Seth and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Others decided on 27.1.2012, in O.A. No.915/PB/2010 titled Tara Singh and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Others decided on 18.3.2011 and in O.A. No.267/HR/2011 titled Atma Singh & Ors. Vs. Union of India and Others decided on 05.5.2011 (Annexure A-4 to A-8). It had been decided by the Honble High Court of Karnataka on 31.7.2009 in the case of Union of India & Ors. Vs. N. Nanjundaiah & Others in various civil writ petitions No.6051/2002, 3721/2007, 21955/2005, 27185/2005, 27186/2005, 27187/2005, 3510/2006, 9553/2006, 20615/2009, 11754/2006, 21958/2005, 46848/2004, 21954/2005 as follows:
It is clear from the above said Government Order issued by the Central Government that even persons who had no availed Central Government Health Scheme facility before recruitment, would be entitled to avail the benefit after retirement and the said order is applicable to all the employees in the Central Government. However, an order has been passed on 01.8.1996 imposing restriction for applicability of the benefit of the Central Government Health Scheme only in respect of employees who have retired from Posts and Telegraphs Department and the applicants in all the O.As are the respondents in above Writ Petitions, who have retired from the Posts and Telegraphs Department and as per the order, they would be entitled to Central Government Health Scheme only if they had availed the benefit of the said scheme while in service and at the time of attaining the age of superannuation and if the retired employees of the Posts and Telegraphs Department were not availing the benefit of Central Government Health Scheme while in service, they would not be entitled for the benefit of the said scheme after retirement. The said order is clearly discriminatory and arbitrary as only the pensioners from Posts and Telegraphs Department subjected to the said restriction and pensioners from all other department are entitled to the benefit of Central Government Health Scheme even though they had not availed the benefit while in service. Therefore, the said order cannot be sustained as arbitrary and discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and the employees/pensioners of the Posts and Telegraphs Department would be entitled to the benefit of Central Government Health Scheme even if they had not availed the benefit under the said scheme while ins service and at the time of attaining the age of superannuation.
12. Having regard to the above said facts, the Central Administrative Tribunal has rightly held that the said order of the Government cannot be sustained and the consequential order rejecting the applications of the applicants for granting the benefits of Central Government Health Scheme is erroneous and liable to be set aside. The said finding of the Central Administrative Tribunal is justified and does not suffer from any error or illegality, so as to call for any interference in exercise of the writ jurisdiction of this Court.
13. Accordingly, we would hold that the order passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal in O.A. No.704/2001 dated 20.11.2001 is entitled to be confirmed and Writ Petition No.6051/2002 is liable to be dismissed.
4. Consequently, this O.A. is also disposed of in the same terms as the above mentioned cases and the concerned respondent is directed to do the needful within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
5. With this, the O.A. stands disposed of with no order as to costs.
(PROMILLA ISSAR) MEMBER (A) Place: Chandigarh. Dated: 17.10.2012. KR* 8 2 O.A. NO.707/CH/2012