The Jharkhand High Court recently upheld that an individual should not be denied reimbursement for expenses related to mental health treatment.
Justice Ananda Sen instructed Bharat Coking Coal Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited, to reimburse the expenses incurred by a retired executive for his wife's psychiatric treatment.
“From Section 21 of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017…I come to the conclusion that there cannot be any discrimination in respect of reimbursement of expenses made by a person suffering from physical illness and mental illness,” the Court held.
It found that Clause 6.3(i) of the CPRMS, which excludes reimbursement for psychiatric treatment expenses, directly contradicts several provisions of the Mental Healthcare Act. The Court held that this exclusion amounts to discrimination without any intelligible differentia.
“Coal India Limited and its subsidiary companies are State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India. Their action or any resolution, which they adopt cannot be contrary to the provisions of any Statute promulgated by the legislatures, herein the Parliament of India. If any resolution or a part of the resolution, adopted by the Board, is in conflict with any parliamentary legislation, that part of the resolution will become null and void and the same cannot be given effect to,” it added.
Advocate Swati Shalini represented the State.
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