BREAKING : Allahabad High Court Says Compensation Must Be At Least ₹ One Crore For Death Of Polling Officers Due To COVID During Election Duty
The Court has asked UP Government and State Election Commission to reconsier the Rs 30 lakh compensation announced.
The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday observed that the State must grant at least Rs. 1 crore as ex-gratia compensation to the families of polling officers who died due to COVID-19 while after the UP Panchayat polls. "It is not a case that somebody volunteered to render his/ her services during election but it was all made obligatory to those assigned with election duty to perform...
The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday observed that the State must grant at least Rs. 1 crore as ex-gratia compensation to the families of polling officers who died due to COVID-19 while after the UP Panchayat polls.
"It is not a case that somebody volunteered to render his/ her services during election but it was all made obligatory to those assigned with election duty to perform their duties during election even while they showed their reluctance," observed a Division Bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar.
BREAKING : Allahabad High Court says compensation must be at least Rs One Crore for death of those officers who died due to COVID-19 while performing election duties during UP local body election, as it was mandatory for them to perform their duties.#UttarPradesh#COVID19India pic.twitter.com/Y1d9gW7G8p
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) May 11, 2021
On Friday, the UP Government had announced compensation of Rs. 30,00,000/- for the bereaved families.
Today, the High Court observed that the amount of compensation is very less and the families must be granted at least Rs. 1 crore as compensation for the loss of their loved ones.
"To compensate the loss of life of the bread earner of the family and that too because of the deliberate act on the part of the State and State Election Commission to force them to perform duties in the absence of RTPCR support, the compensation must be at least to the tune of Rs.1,00,00,000/-" it observed.
It further noted that the State Government as well as State Election Commission were well aware of the threat of pandemic and yet the teachers, investigators and Shiksha Mitras were forced to take risk. "It appears that neither the police nor, Election Commission did anything to save the people on election duty from getting infected by this deadly virus," the High Court had said earlier.
"We hope that the State Election Commission and Government will rethink over the amount of the compensation and come back to us on the next date fixed," the Bench said.
In related development, a Single Bench of Justice Siddhartha of the Allahabad High Court observed that the Election Commission, the Higher Courts and the Government failed to fathom the disastrous consequences of permitting the elections in few States and the Panchayat elections in the State of Uttar Pradesh.
Last month, the High Court had taken judicial notice of reports about the death of 135 persons, who died after contracting COVID during their election duty.
"It appears that neither the police nor, Election Commission did anything to save the people on election duty from getting infected by this deadly virus", the Court had observed then.
In April first week, the High Court had dismissed a plea seeking postponement of the UP Panchayat elections amid COVID second wave, saying state has put in place adequate safety protocols.