Rajasthan High Court Orders Reconsideration Of Retired Judge's Kidney Transplant Reimbursement Claim, Sets Aside Law Department's Rejection
Nupur Agrawal
21 Oct 2026 7:00 PM IST
The Rajasthan High Court has set aside the Law and Legal Affairs Department's order rejecting a retired judicial officer's claim for reimbursement of kidney transplant expenses, holding that the Department's Secretary could not question the validity of the authorisation granted by the State Authorisation Committee.The Division Bench of Justice Munnuri Laxman and Justice Bipin Gupta held that...
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The Rajasthan High Court has set aside the Law and Legal Affairs Department's order rejecting a retired judicial officer's claim for reimbursement of kidney transplant expenses, holding that the Department's Secretary could not question the validity of the authorisation granted by the State Authorisation Committee.
The Division Bench of Justice Munnuri Laxman and Justice Bipin Gupta held that the Secretary was not the appellate authority under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, and could not examine the validity of the authorisation granted by the State Authorisation Committees.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by the legal representatives of the deceased retired judicial officer, Chandra Narayan Mathur, challenging the rejection of his claim for reimbursement of medical expenses incurred for a kidney transplant.
For context, the deceased petitioner had obtained authorisations from the State Authorisation Committees of Rajasthan, where he resided, and West Bengal, where the donor resided and the transplant was performed.
After the surgery, the petitioner sought reimbursement of the expenses incurred. The matter was subsequently referred to the Law and Legal Affairs Department to examine compliance with the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994. The Department rejected the claim on the ground that Section 9(5) of the Act required the donor and recipient to jointly apply for authorisation, and that this requirement had not been fulfilled.
After considering the material on record, including the authorisations issued by the two States, the Court observed:
“There is no material before the Secretary, Law & Legal Affairs Department to say that the application was not jointly submitted either before the State Authorization Committee of the State of Rajasthan or State of West Bengal as he has no access. Further, he is not the appellate authority to sit over and examine the validity of the authorization granted by the State Authorization Committee of the two different States.”
The Court held that the Department's order was beyond its jurisdiction and could not be sustained. Accordingly, it set aside the order rejecting the reimbursement claim and all consequential orders, directing the respondents to examine the claim of the deceased petitioner and release the amount within one month.
The Court also directed the Law and Legal Affairs Department to pay ₹50,000 as costs to the legal representatives of the deceased petitioner. Further, the reimbursement amount was directed to be paid with 12% annual interest from the date of the claim until payment.
