New Delhi [India], December 3 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Friday fixed April 26, 2022, for the final hearing in a petition stating the three municipal corporations in Delhi are not providing cashless medical services to their retired employees including teachers despite charging subscription fees from them.

The bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh on Friday said the matter in April next year the final arguments will be heard in the matter. Court also pointed out some contradictory statements in affidavits of the municipal corporations in the matter.

Court also asked the respondents to file a fresh additional affidavit about the reimbursement of medical bills paid till the next date of hearing.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court had criticised three municipal corporations in Delhi for not providing cashless medical services to their retired employees including teachers despite charging subscription fees from them.

The Bench had expressed disappointment with the three MCDs - South, North and East - and noted that retired employees of the corporations had pending medical bills. The court asked how a fee can be charged if the corporations do not have a tie-up with the hospitals for cashless treatment. It also asked about the employees not getting their pensions for a long time.

Respondent corporations earlier informed the court that they are reimbursing the medical bills in the best way.

The petitioner, Akhil Dilli Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, through Advocate Ranjit Sharma stated that the Municipal Corporation was bifurcated into three corporations - South, North and East - with a common Health Department and the corporations had taken subscription premium from the retired teachers and employees for extending cashless medical facility.

"Despite the retired employees having deposited the premium, the Corporations are yet to extend to them the cashless medical facility. The employees are required to first report to the Health Department and after obtaining the referral from the Department, can they seek medical treatment from the approved Hospital," the petition said.

"Not only this. If the approved Hospital advises surgery the retired employee is required to revert back to the Health Department for approval and only then, the actual treatment will start. In emergency cases, such a procedure is not only cumbersome but also likely to prove fatal," it added.The petition also alleged that hospitals do not provide cashless treatment and employees have to first deposit money and then seek reimbursement from the Health Department of MCD which takes a lot of time.

"This act of the MCD is absolutely unfair and illegal. During this COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of retired employees who did not receive pension on time had to face extreme hardships in arranging money for their treatment as the hospitals did not provide cashless treatment," the plea read. (ANI)