Personal Finance,

THE Constitutional Court has dismissed an application by the Registrar of Medical Schemes for leave to appeal against a High Court judgment directing him to register the 2006 rules of Genesis Medical Scheme.

Patrick Masobe, the registrar, had previously been denied leave to appeal the Pretoria High Court ruling by that court and the Supreme Court. His legal options are now exhausted and the scheme's lawyers say that the registrar has now registered the scheme's 2006 rules.

The registrar has refused to register the scheme's rules since 2006, arguing that they are discriminatory.

Genesis successfully challenged Masobe's decision through the Council for Medical Schemes's appeal committee.

Masobe then appealed to the council's Appeal Board, but before the appeal was heard, Genesis obtained the High Court order declaring that Masobe did not have the right to such an appeal.

Masobe asked the Constitutional Court to hear his appeal because the registration of rules like Genesis's could result in "a systemic exclusion from medical scheme cover of the aged and sickly".

Cassian Coquelle, an attorney from Webber Wentzel Bowens, which represented Genesis, says the High Court judgment and the denied applications for leave to appeal could have implications for all rulings made by the Appeal Board where the registrar was the appellant. These rulings could in certain circumstances be set aside, he says.