Full and final payment of medical reimbursement renders further adjudication unnecessary.

Alaguvel, a retired Chief Store Supervisor of the Chennai Port Trust, retired on 31 May 2015 and claimed medical reimbursement under the Chennai Port Trust Employees’ (Medical Attendance in the Trust’s Hospital and Reimbursement of Hospital Charges) Regulations, 1994.

The Writ Court allowed his claim in W.P. No. 120 of 2020, prompting the Chennai Port Trust and its Chief Medical Officer to file the present intra-court appeal.

The appellants contended that the treatment and surgery were not undertaken in an emergency and that reimbursement was therefore barred under Clause 10(ii) of the Regulations.

During the pendency of the appeal, however, the Port Trust paid Alaguvel ₹2,76,605 as full and final settlement of his medical reimbursement claim.

Whether the respondent was entitled to medical reimbursement under the 1994 Regulations despite the appellants’ contention that the treatment and surgery were not undertaken in emergency circumstances, as contemplated by Clause 10(ii)

Whether any further adjudication was necessary after the Port Trust had paid ₹2,76,605 to the respondent in full and final settlement of the reimbursement claim

The Court applied the Chennai Port Trust Employees’ (Medical Attendance in the Trust’s Hospital and Reimbursement of Hospital Charges) Regulations, 1994, under which eligible retired employees may claim medical reimbursement.

The appellants relied specifically on Clause 10(ii), which they argued restricted reimbursement where the treatment or surgery was not necessitated by an emergency.

The Court further applied the procedural principle that, once the monetary claim forming the subject matter of the litigation has been fully satisfied and accepted as full and final settlement, no further adjudication on that claim is necessary.

Although the appellants challenged the Writ Court’s order on the ground that the surgery was not an emergency and relied on Clause 10(ii) of the Regulations, the Court noted that the Port Trust had subsequently paid the entire reimbursement amount of ₹2,76,605 to Alaguvel as full and final settlement.

Since the respondent’s monetary claim had thereby been satisfied, the Court held that there was no surviving controversy requiring determination of the emergency-treatment issue or the correctness of the Writ Court’s order.

The writ appeal was consequently closed, without costs, and the connected miscellaneous petition, C.M.P. No. 7561 of 2024, was also closed.