Cover dependent parents of govt employees under insurance scheme

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has asked the Tamil Nadu government to make modifications in the New Health Insurance Scheme, 2016 for government employees in accordance with the court orders, so as to bring their dependent parents under it irrespective of the employees’ marital status.

The order was passed recently by Justice Mummineni Sudheer Kumar while quashing an order of Ariyalur police superintendent that rejected the claims of medical bill submitted by a constable for providing treatment to his father who had met with an accident.

The claim was rejected on the ground that the insurance scheme did not cover parents of government employees who are married.

Referring to the issue, Justice Sudheer Kumar said he was in complete agreement with a 2020 order of a single judge, which stated that the clause must be read as “the parents will continue to be treated as family members till they remain as the dependents of the employee”.

In view of the fact that the same issue has already been considered by the court, there is no necessity to examine the matter in detail once again, he said, and quashed the SP’s order. He directed the authorities concerned to reconsider the claim, if the father is dependent, within eight weeks.

He noted the court had, on more than one occasion, held that keeping parents of a married employee out of the purview of the family is highly arbitrary and illegal.

The judge asked the state chief secretary to pay special attention to the issue and bring the New Health Insurance Scheme, 2016 or any subsequent scheme, in tune with the court’s orders within a period of three months. “The parents of employees should be included within the definition or purview of the family for the purpose of extending the scheme’s benefits, if they are dependent on the employee concerned,” said the order.