The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has sought a reply from the Uttar Pradesh Government in three weeks on the compensation to personnel who died of coronavirus in the line of duty during the panchayat elections.
A single-judge bench of Justice Manish Mathur passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Kushlawati.
The petition has been filed raising challenge to paragraph 12 of the Government order dated June 01, 2021. It is submitted by counsel for petitioner that the Government Order was issued for laying down guidelines for payment of compensation to persons who have passed away due to the Covid pandemic.
Counsel for petitioner further submitted that the Supreme Court in the Case of Reepak Kansal versus Union of India and others in Writ Petition (Civil) no.554 of 2021 has specifically indicated that compensation may be provided to persons who have passed away within two to three months of being found Covid positive for which purpose death certificate should compulsorily indicate that the persons have passed away due to Covid pandemic.
The counsel for the petitioner also submitted that paragraph 12 of the Government Order dated June 01, 2021 however has restricted this time period to merely 30 days for such Government Employees who were allocated work in election duty and provides that compensation would be granted only in case death has occurred within 30 days of the person being found Covid positive.
The counsel for the petitioner said that such fixation of time period is completely arbitrary and unreasonable and is also in the teeth of directions issued by the Supreme Court.
Submissions advanced by the counsel for the petitioner have considerable force for which the opposite parties are granted three weeks’ time to file counter affidavit, the court said.
The Court has fixed the next hearing of the petition on December 17, 2021.