Madhya Pradesh High Court Seeks State's Reply on Plea Challenging Cut-Off Date In Scheme For Children Orphaned Due To Covid-19

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla on Monday directed the Advocate General to seek instructions in the matter and file counter-affidavit by June 30.

The petition has been filed by two law students, Dharmesh Basedia and Saket Malik through Advocate Siddharth Gulatee, being aggrieved by the cut-off date prescribed in Clause 3.3 of the scheme.

It is stated that though the object of the Scheme is laudable and its coverage is wide, however, due to the restrictive definition of Covid19 death as provided in clause 3.3, any child or student beneficiary who is otherwise eligible for grant of benefit under the Scheme would become ineligible simply for the reason that her/his parents or guardian have expired prior to the cut-off date i.e. 1 March, 2021.

"Thus, the prescription of a cut-off date from 1^st March, 2021 onwards defies the benevolent object of the Scheme itself as it excludes from its benefits those children and students who have lost their Parents/ Guardians to COVID19 prior to the said date. The Cut-off date prescribed in clause 3.3 is unreasonable, arbitrary and violates the protection granted under Article 14 of the Constitution of India being discriminatory in the matter of distribution of Government Largesse," the plea states.

It is submitted that there appears to be no intelligible differentia for the classification of the orphaned children on the basis of the period post 1^st March 2021. Moreover, there is no reasonable nexus of this differentia with the object of the Scheme itself.

The Petitioners have therefore urged the High Court to:

• quash Clause 3.3 of the Scheme in question so far as it seeks to limit the definition of COVID-19 death to a period post March 1, 2021; and
• direct the Respondents to include the beneficiaries as originally intended in the Scheme to cover orphans who lost their parents/legal guardians since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the State.

Case Title: Dharmesh Basedia & Anr. v. State of MP & Ors.

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