E-Paper
HC: Dependents of Covid-infected state staff who died during poll duty entitled to ₹30L ex-gratia
A division bench comprising justices Attau Rahman Masoodi and Vikram D Chauhan directed the state authorities to release the ex-gratia payment to the dependents of Covid-19 victims entitled thereto within a period of one month.
PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court has held that once the admission of deceased people was on account of Covid-19, the resulting cause being heart failure or dysfunction of any other organ leading to death is immaterial and such deaths would be treated as Covid-19 death.
The court said that state officials, who were sent on election duty during the panchayat elections in March last year, would be entitled to ex-gratia payment to the tune of Rs.30 lakh as per government order by the state government to compensate the dependents of any such deceased person.
Allowing the writ petitions filed by Kusum Lata Yadav and several others, a division bench comprising justices Attau Rahman Masoodi and Vikram D Chauhan directed the state authorities to release the ex-gratia payment to the dependents of Covid-19 victims entitled thereto within a period of one month.
The petitioners’ kin were sent on election duty during the panchayat elections in the month of March, last year.
Giving this judgment, the court observed, “We find that deaths having taken place in the hospitals on account of Covid-19 fully stand the test of certification. The argument that the medical reports mentioning cardiac failure or otherwise may not be attributed to Covid-19 does not impress the court for the reason that Covid-19 is an infection that may result in the mortality of a person affecting any organ be it lungs or heart etc.”.
In the judgment dated July 5, the court directed that each of the petitioners, whose claims were allowed here, shall be entitled to a cost of Rs. 25000 in each case.
The petitioners had challenged the clause 12 of the government order (GO) dated June 1, 2021 primarily on the ground that it provides ceiling, which restricts payment of compensation only if the death has occurred within 30 days.
The petitioner contended that the object of this GO was to compensate the family, which had lost its bread winner during panchayat elections due to Covid -19. It was contended that the state authorities admitted that the death of petitioner’s husband was caused due to Covid-19 but the payment was being denied only because of the ceiling contained in clause 12, which restricted payment of compensation only if the death had occurred within 30 days. It was submitted that there was no justifiable reason to restrict the death to 30 days and it had often been observed that people died even after 30 days of contracting Covid. It was contended that discretion must be extended to the competent authority to examine such issues and the ceiling of 30 days seemed wholly irrational.
