Daughter-in-law and grandchild cannot be included as beneficiaries under the Delhi government’s Employees Health Scheme (DGEHS), the High Court has said while dismissing a plea of a retired government employee.
The petitioner had sought an extension of the health plan to his widowed daughter-in-law and grandchild.
‘A compelling case’
Justice Vibhu Bakhru noted that though the man put forward a compelling case with regard to the medical needs of the two mentioned, however, “medical care facilities under DGEHS cannot be extended to them since they were not the specified beneficiaries of the scheme”.
The court order came on the plea of Hukm Tejpratap Singh, a retired government employee who served as a Trained Graduate Teacher (Hindi) in the Directorate of Education, Delhi, for over 30 years. In 1998, the government formulated the DGEHS for providing medical facilities and health benefits to its employees and pensioners. The scheme was also extended to their dependents.
Mr. Singh said his son died in 2013 due to dengue.
In 2015, he sought an update of his DGEHS card by seeking the inclusion of the name of his grandson and daughter-in-law as beneficiaries under the scheme.
He contended that they are family members and are completely dependent on him pursuant to the death of his son. However, his plea was denied on the grounds that under the prevalent rules, daughters-in-law and grandchildren are not covered as dependent family members.
The court said: “The contention that since DGEHS covers some members of his/her family, the same should also extend to all other members who are equally part of his/her family, is unsustainable”.
“Persons who do not have benefit of the said scheme would necessarily have to be catered to by other measures. So far as the decision of the respondents [the government] to limit the scheme to only some members of a member’s family is concerned, the same cannot be faulted,” the Delhi High Court said.
