Allahabad High Court
Sunita Prajapati vs State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. ... on 15 May, 2023
Bench: Pankaj Bhatia
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC-LKO:33575
Court No. - 17
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 8716 of 2022
Petitioner :- Sunita Prajapati
Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home And 3 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Praveen Kumar Yadav,Aditya Vikram Singh,Yash Pandey
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Neeraj Chaurasiya
Hon'ble Pankaj Bhatia,J.
1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner challenging the order dated 14.07.2022 whereby the claim for grant of compensation on account of death of the husband of the petitioner from Covid-19 has been rejected on the ground that the evidence with regard to RTPCR test has not been submitted.
2. The counsel for the petitioner argues that the certificate in the form of death certificate was submitted and is contained in Annexure no.4. He further argues that a similar issue was decided by this Cort in judgment dated 18.05.2022 in Writ C No.86 of 2022 (Nisha and another vs. State of U.P. and others) wherein this court considered the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Gaurav Kumar Bansal vs. Union of India and others (2021) 6 AWC 5746 SC wherein the Supreme Court has held as under:
"Furthermore, the Supreme Court in Gaurav Kumar Bansal Vs. Union of India(UOI) and Ors. 2021 6 AWC 5746 SC, has directed the State to clear ex-gratia announced by the States to legal heirs of Covid-19 victim, as early as possible without going too much into technicalities of the cause of death specially when the victims have shown signs of Covid-19 prior to their death but the death certificate says otherwise. Relevant portions of Paragraph 10 and 11 of Gaurav Kumar (Supra.) reads as under:
"10. In furtherance of our earlier order dated 30.06.2021, it is directed as under:
i)....
vii) that no States shall deny the ex-gratia assistance of Rs. 50,000/- to the next of the kin of the deceased died due to Covid-19 solely on the ground that in the death certificate issued by the appropriate authority, the cause of death is not mentioned as "Died due to Covid-19":"
"11. Now so far as the directions contained in para 16(2) of our earlier order dated 30.06.2021 for issuance of the death certificates/official document stating the exact cause of death, i.e., "died due to Covid-19" to the family members of the deceased who died due to Covid-19 is concerned, considering the additional affidavit filed on behalf of the Union of India dated 8.9.2021 and the subsequent clarification in the additional affidavit dated 22.09.2021 and the guidelines dated 3.9.2021, in furtherance of our earlier order dated 30.06.2021, it is further directed as under:
i)....
v) all concerned hospitals where the patient was admitted and given treatment shall provide all the necessary documents of treatment etc. to the family member of the deceased, as and when demanded, and if any hospital and/or the place where the deceased had taken treatment refuses to furnish such documents, it will be open for the Grievance Redressal Committee to call for such information and the concerned hospital/institution where the deceased was admitted shall have to furnish such particulars as required for the purpose of establishing that the death was due to Covid-19;
vi)....
viii) all endeavours shall be made by the District Disaster Management Authority/District Administration and even the Grievance Redressal Committee to avoid any technicalities and all concerned authority shall act as a helping hand, so as to wipe off the tears of those who have suffered due to loss of a family member died due to Covid-19;"
3. In view of law laid down by the Supreme Court, the impugned order dated 14.07.2022 is unsustainable and is hereby quashed. The respondents are directed to pass a fresh order with regard to the claim of compensation, in view of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of Gaurav Kumar Bansal (supra) and Nisha and another (supra) within a period of two months from today.
4. The writ petition stands allowed.
Order Date :- 15.5.2023
VNP/-
