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Synopsis

A woman moved the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench seeking compensation for the birth of her fifth child following a failed vasectomy operation.

The woman claimed that despite undergoing a sterilization procedure on August 26, 2019, at the Community Health Centre in Machrehta, District Sitapur, she gave birth to a child on November 30, 2021.

The woman, who already had four children at the time of the surgery, approached the court, represented by Advocates Amrendra Kumar, Neeraj Kumar Baghel, Piyush Pathak and Priya Singh after her claim for compensation under the Pariwar Niyojan Indemnity Scheme was not processed.

The scheme, managed by the National Health Mission, is designed to provide financial relief in cases where sterilization procedures fail. Her claim application, initially submitted on May 16, 2023, to the Director General of Family Welfare, was rejected due to missing documents.

The state's Standing Counsel, representing the government, provided information based on instructions from the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Sitapur, which confirmed that the application was indeed rejected due to documentation issues. He further apprised the court that the CMO had, on August 3, 2024, sent a letter to the Superintendent of the Community Health Centre, Machrehta, to remove shortcomings that had been pointed out by the Directorate and to send the claim of the petitioner again for consideration.

The bench of Justice Sangeeta Chandra and Justice Shree Prakash Singh, heard the case and disposed of the petition with directions to ensure that the claim is reconsidered.

Court directed the Superintendent of the Community Health Centre, Machrehta, to send the completed documents along with claim petition to the Chief Medical Officer Sitapur within a period of three week.

Furthermore, court ordered the CMO to then review the claim and forward it to the competent authority within four weeks thereafter.

Case Title: Manju Devi v. UOI and Others