Not Entitled To Ex Gratia Compensation If Deceased Not Deployed For Dedicated COVID 19 Duty: Delhi Govt Tells High Court

The Delhi Government has told the Delhi High Court that only those families of deceased persons who died while being deployed for dedicated COVID 19 duty will be entitled for ex gratia compensation of Rs. 1 Crore and not otherwise.

Justice V Kameswar Rao was hearing the pleas filed by families of two police officers who died while performing field duty amid COVID 19. One of the petitions was filed by wife of Constable (Late) Amit Kumar seeking the release of ex gratia amount of Rs.1 crore as promised by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi appearing for the Delhi Government submitted that the case of routine duties performed during the COVID 19 was different than the dedicated COVID 19 duties.

He said that dedicated COVID duty assignment is an important ingredient to consider ex gratia compensation claims.

After the Court quizzed Tripathi if a policeman standing on a road to ensure curfew is maintained can also be said to be performing COVID duty, Tripathi responded that being on roads is not as risky as being deployed in hospitals as the policeman in the former situation has the chance of taking adequate protection.

Tripathi further added that it was not possible for the Government to pay ex gratia compensation to every person who died due to COVID 19, either a government employee or someone belonging from the private sector, adding that the same has a financial implication.

The Delhi Government, in its earlier reply, had said that the deceased constable was not eligible for the ex gratia amount for the reason that he was not deployed on the COVID-19 duty.

The petitioner had relied upon the tweet by the Chief Minister of Delhi and contended that the sacrifice made by the husband of the petitioner had been noticed and it had been announced that his family will be given an ex gratia amount of Rs.1 crore.

The Delhi government, in May 2020, had announced Rs 1 crore ex-gratia to the kin of Delhi Police constable Amit Kumar who had died of COVID-19. In one of his tweets, Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had condoled the death of Kumar and had said his family will be provided with an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore.

Accordingly, the petition was filed to seek a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to release the aforesaid ex gratia amount of Rs.1 crore as promised by them.

Reportedly, 32-year-old Delhi Police constable, Kumar died six hours after he tested positive for coronavirus and he had complained of breathlessness, a slight fever, and cough following which he was tested for the virus.

Case title - Pooja vs State Of Gnct Of Delhi & Ors