Town vending committee members not ‘frontline Covid-19 warriors’: Delhi HC

A single-judge bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad in its March 12 order said, “The petitioner’s father was part of the town vending committee. There is nothing on record to show that the father of the petitioner had been deployed for COVID-19 duties by the Government of NCT of Delhi. In the absence of any material to show that the father of the petitioner had been deployed for COVID-19 duties by the Government of NCT of Delhi, the petitioner is not entitled to benefit of decision taken by the Respondent/GNCTD vide Cabinet Decision dated 13.05.2020.”

The high court further observed that matters related to the grant of benefits under a scheme are purely a policy decision and writ courts under Article 226 of the Constitution of India do not interfere with the policy.

“In the absence of any material to show that the petitioner’s father had been deployed for COVID-19 duties by the Government of NCT of Delhi, this court is not inclined to direct that the members of the town vending committee should be declared as frontline COVID-19 warriors or that they are entitled to the compensation of Rs 25 lakhs. The writ petition is completely devoid of merits,” Justice Prasad said while dismissing the plea.

The petitioner had said that his father had been participating in meetings of the town vending committee of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Civil Lines Area wherein he died after contracting Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the government argued that the grant of compensation is a matter of policy and that the petitioner’s mother has already been considered under the ‘Mukhyamantri Covid-19 Parivar Aarthik Sahayta Yojana Scheme’ and a one-time payment of Rs 50,000 has been paid to her, and therefore, no other claim of compensation is made out.

The high court noted that the government had through its cabinet decision of May 13, 2020, said that if any person, including a doctor, nurse, paramedical staff security/sanitation staff or any other government officer/official, including police officer/official, whether temporary or permanent employee or contractual, in government or private sector, deployed for Covid-19 duties by the Delhi government, expires by contracting the disease during discharge of his/her duty, his/her family shall be paid an ex-gratia amount of Rs 1 crore, posthumously.