Mumbai: Bombay high court recently directed the state govt to pay Rs 50 lakh compensation under a May 29, 2020 Govt Resolution (GR) within 16 weeks to the widow of a peon in the Goods and Services Tax Department who died due to Covid-19. Justices Makarand Karnik and Shriram Modak on Feb 23 said that by construing the GR strictly, and by not extending the GR to the peon in this case, who answered the call of duty “despite the risk” in doing so, would amount to “grave injustice” to his widow Sushma Shinde, who is a Panvel resident. Following the lockdown, Jagannath Shinde was required to attend office at Vikrikar Bhavan, Mazgaon, once a week. Shinde was present on June 5 and 12, 2020. On June 26, 2020, he was hospitalised due to Covid-19. He died on July 3, 2020. His widow’s claim was rejected on May 7, 2024.Govt’s advocate Bhupesh Samant said the GR was limited to employees discharging Covid related duties such as survey, tracking, testing, prevention, relief activities, etc, and said that Shinde was not engaged in these duties. The judges said that from the GR’s literal reading, it appeared that it applies to categories exposed to the virus while performing duty of survey, tracking, etc. However, a clause in the GR expanded the scope to the staff of the district administration, including departments, involved in Covid-19 related duties. Therefore, the categories “cannot be regarded as exhaustive.”Agreeing with the widow’s advocate Ramesh Ramamurthy, the judges said Shinde “exposed himself” to the risk of life-threatening Covid-19 and said that “he (the peon) has to be regarded as an employee involved in discharging Covid-19 related duties”. The court noted that in the midst of fear-driven chaos, the frontline and essential service workers emerged as “the pillars of survival, keeping the society from collapsing.” The court said that the GR’s literal reading “would deprive a genuine class of employees who had actually put their lives at grave risk during the pandemic.”
