A provision in the Hindu Succession Act, which debarred female heirs from claiming partition of a “dwelling house”, was deleted on September 9, 2005. Subsequently, in a pending property dispute suit, the court gave the female heir permission to partition the family home. The male heir challenged the decree. He contended that the order should not have been passed because when the case was filed, the restrictive provision existed. Karnataka High Court ruled that the omission of the restrictive provision would apply to all sub-judice cases, regardless of whether they were filed before or after the deletion (Rathnakar Rao Sindhe vs Smt Leela Ashwath).
A man was denied medical reimbursement for dialysis because he hadn’t been admitted to a hospital. According to government regulations, a patient can claim medical reimbursement only if he or she has to spend at least one night in hospital (indoor patient) for treatment. Punjab and Haryana High Court held that since it was undisputed that dialysis was the only treatment available, and the patient would have been reimbursed if he had stayed overnight at a hospital for the same treatment, the distinction between indoor and outdoor patient was not sustainable. Therefore, there was no rationale behind not reimbursing him (The Secretary to Govt. of Punjab Higher Education and Language Department vs Ajit Singh Kakkar [deceased by L.R.]).
The victim of a motor accident was awarded Rs 15,000 as compensation but he demanded more money to cover the expenditure incurred by his relatives who had visited him during his treatment. The Claims Tribunal constituted under the Motor Vehicles Act disallowed enhancement of compensation on this account. However, the victim appealed against the order. Upholding the lower court’s judgment, Allahabad High Court held that the tribunal was right in observing that such expenses were only remotely connected with the accident and it was normal for relatives in India to visit an accident victim in hospital (Gauri Shankar Paliwal vs J.N. Nigam and others).
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