Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Aug 27: High Court reserved its verdict on the dispute between the Government and the Insurance Company (IFFCO TOKIO) over continuation and non-continuation of contract of the Golden Card Scheme which provides free health care to patients.
The contract was made between the State health authority (SHA) and the insurer company (IFFCO TOKIO) on March 10 2022 for the maximum period of three years subject to the renewal of the contract by mutual agreement every 12 months from the date of start of contract.
In the second year of the agreement a decision was taken by the Government and the insurer company on December 15 2022 that the Company shall continue as the insurer for the next policy period as per the condition already agreed.
For the third year, the petitioner-Company on November 1 2023 while invoking one of the condition as laid in the agreement/contract decided not to accord consent for renewal of the contract beyond March 14 2024 and informed the SHA with regard to non-continuation of the contract in order to make alternative arrangements.
Since then, the dispute has arisen between the authorities and the Insurer Company and are litigating before the high court. The Government did not accept the decision of the Insurer Company and invoked arbitration and sent a notice for arbitration to the Company.
The Company accordingly replied to the said notice asking the SHA to resort to pre-arbitration negotiation and also there is no dispute as per the condition of the contract. The SHA approached the High court challenging the letter of denial of continuation with the contract by the insurer company however the same was dismissed by the High Court.
Thereafter, the SHA filed another application for arbitration under section 37 of the Act and the high court directed for Status Quo. It is stated by the insurer company that the SHA in breach of the order of Status quo issued a circular and issued order migrating new policy period which has no reference to the orders of the court and the order of migrating a new policy with the same insurer was a deliberate attempt to violate the order of status quo.
The SHA issued a letter of continuation of contract on 16.3.2024 and the insurer company submits that the contract was upto 14.3.2024 and the company had already informed the SHA for non-continuation of the contract furthermore as is envisaged in the conditions of the contract.
The Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY SEHAT scheme was launched by the Prime Minister of India on December 26, 2020. Over the past four years, thousands of patients have benefited from this scheme.
Launched with an aim to provide healthcare coverage to all residents of Jammu and Kashmir, the much talked about Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (Golden card scheme) is facing legal hurdles, putting thousands of patients in distress.
The insurer company citing financial losses for exiting submitted that it do not want to continue with the contract. On the other hand the Government in its plea urged the court to order the insurance company to fulfill the contract until its expiry on March 14, 2025.
The IFFCO – TOKIO, General Insurance Company in their letter dated November 1st, 2023 informed that they would like to serve a notice expressing that they are not interested in further renewing the contract after the expiry of the present policy, which ends on 14th March, 2024 as per Clause 9.1c of the contract agreement dated 10th March, 2022.
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