Allahabad High Court paves way for Rs 30 lakh ex gratia to widow of teacher who died due to Covid 19 during panchayat poll duty

The woman claimed that her plea for compensation was denied by the office of the district magistrate on the ground that no Covid 19 test was conducted and no proof of infection was available.

The bench, however, clarified that the Covid 19 test report was a computer generated slip issued by a UP Covid lab, which didn’t require a doctor’s signature.

“Merely because it was not signed by any doctor it would not become a forged document. Had the hospital and the UP Covid Lab denied the document, it could have been said that the document was a forged document set up for the case,” the order said.

Claim

The widow moved the high court after her ex gratia claim under the government order of 2021 was rejected by the district magistrate. She was informed that the 2021 government order provided a payment for an ex gratia amount of Rs 30 lakh to the employees who die within one month of performing election duty.

The woman claimed that her husband, Kaushal Kishore, was a lecturer deployed for election duty during the peak of the Covid 19 pandemic in April, 2021, and succumbed to the infection within 12 days of performing such duty.

The court noted that Kishore was admitted to the hospital and highlighted “enough medical reports” that established that he was having “all symptoms of Covid 19”.

Allowing the woman’s plea, the court quashed the district magistrate’s July 2022 order and directed for a reconsideration.

DM’s order ‘illegal’

The widow’s counsel, advocate Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, argued that the district magistrate’s order deserves to be quashed as it was “arbitrary, illegal, and contrary to the medical records” issued by the state’s own departments.

He further contended that the widow’s husband contracted Covid 19 immediately after performing election duty and died within one month, and, therefore, the district magistrate should have granted the compensation to the legally entitled wife.

The counsel placed on record several documents, including hospital prescriptions, Covid 19 lab test reports besides medical certificates issued by government hospitals to establish the presence of Covid-19 infection, claiming that the magistrate’s findings were “negligent and contrary to the official records”.

‘No proof’

Additional chief standing counsel Pradeepta Kumar Shahi, representing the state, argued that the widow’s claim was rejected on the ground that she was unable to produce the Antigen/RT-PCR +ve test report and the Computed Tomography scan of her late husband, which could prove that her husband died due to Covid 19 while performing election duty.

The high court, however, rejected the district magistrate’s contention and directed to reconsider the widow’s compensation plea and pass an order expeditiously.