HC sends notice to SBI after it delays ₹6L medical reimbursement to Pune couple

MARATHE FILED THE PLEAS AFTER HIS WIFE, AN EXSBI EMPLOYEE, DIED OF CANCER

The Bombay high court has issued a notice to the State Bank of India (SBI) on a plea filed by the husband of a former employee who claimed that the bank refused to reimburse Rs 6 lakh in medical bills.

Pune resident Nagesh Marathe, 62, approached the court after the bank refused to pay back about Rs6 lakh that he spent on a lifesaving drug for his wife, who had cancer.

Marathe claimed that as an employee of the bank, his wife Ranjana was entitled to certain welfare benefits including full reimbursement of medical expenses. He said that when Ranjana was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, the bank paid for her treatment. But in 2015, when the cancer spread to her liver, the doctors asked him to buy a life-saving drug that had to be imported from Belgium. Ranjana, however, died before it could be administered.

When Marathe submitted the bill for the drug and related treatment, the bank did not respond to his reimbursement application.

After filing several RTI applications asking for reasons for the delay, the bank said that they were pending scrutiny and that the bank was still awaiting confirmation that the life-saving drug was not available in India.

The bank also said that it would need to consider if it could reimburse the money since Ranjana had not taken the drug.

Marathe argued that SBI was bound by statutes and previous court orders to pay back the medical expenses of their employees.

The high court is likely to hear the matter next on May 3.