New Delhi: Delhi High Court has directed the state govt to pay Rs 1 crore ex gratia to the family of a school principal who died while discharging Covid-19 duties. The relief was granted after the court allowed an appeal filed by his widow against an earlier decision that held the man was not on Covid duty at the relevant time.“We have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the unfortunate demise of the late husband of the appellant was caused on account of contracting novel coronavirus while discharging Covid-19 duties,” a bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Tushar Rao Gedela noted on Thursday.HC was hearing a plea by the widow of Shivnath Prasad, who joined the services of Delhi govt as an assistant teacher in May 1993 and was serving as the principal of the MCD Primary Boys’ School in Nithari at the time when he contracted the disease.The petition said in May 2020, when Covid struck, govt declared if any govt officer or official deployed on Covid duty died by contracting the disease during the discharge of his or her duties, their kin would be paid an ex gratia of Rs 1 crore posthumously.The plea submitted that in April 2021, Prasad was deployed for discharging various Covid-related duties. He tested positive for the virus on April 24. According to his widow, this was the period when he was discharging Covid-related duties in the school he was attached to. Prasad succumbed on April 28.However, the authorities concerned raised objections against the woman’s claim for ex gratia, and the amount was not approved. She moved HC, but her plea was dismissed.In its latest order, HC relied upon an April 24, 2023 letter issued by the next principal of MCD Primary Boys’ School, Nithari, indicating Prasad had been deployed to perform duties during the pandemic. “His death, on contracting coronavirus, was not only relatable, but also attributable to the discharge of such specific duties,” the bench said, adding, “While examining applications under such beneficial policies, a narrow and pedantic view ought to be completely avoided. Though it is the bounden duty of the officers scrutinising such applications to verify the same scrupulously, however, the intent behind such policies must not be lost sight of.“HC ordered govt to process the application and complete the payment within eight weeks. If the amount was not released within that timeframe, the authorities would also have to pay 6% annual interest.
