In peculiar facts, court directed ex-gratia Covid compensation to family of frontline municipal employee bypassing further scrutiny of technical procedural lapses like private hospital admission and ICMR non-upload.

JUDGMENT :

(PER M.S.KARNIK, J.)

1. By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners who are the legal heirs of the late employee who died due to Corona virus, are seeking directions to respondents no.1 to 5 to release the amount of Rs. 50,00,000/- towards Covid compensation.

2. The facts of the case in brief are that late Shri Unmesh Sharad Kulkarni joined the services of Manmad Municipal Council (‘Municipal Council’, for short) as Class IV employee with effect from 29/06/1990. The Municipal Council issued a letter dated 09/01/2021 appointing late Shri Unmesh Kulkarni as force staff to tackle Covid-19 surge at Dr. Babasaheb Amebedkar Playground and Railway Institute. Late Shri Unmesh Kulkarni died in harness due to Covid-19 while serving as Class IV employee on 29/03/2021. The Chief Officer of the Municipal Council submitted a report dated 22/11/2021 to the Respondent No.3 - District Administrative Officer, Urban Development Branch, Nashik enclosing the following documents.

a. Original Appointment Order of Late Unmesh Sharad Kulkarni.

b. Office Order issued to Late Unmesh Sharad Kulkarni during Covid-19 period.

c. Medical report of Late Unmesh Sharad Kulkarni indicating Corona positive patient.

d. Death Certificate of Unmesh Sharad Kulkarni indicating he died due to Corona.

e. Medical report issued by the hospital to the office of Municipal Council.

f. Daily treatment report taken by late Shri Unmesh Sharad Kulkarni.

g. Attendance register and certificate of attendance of late Unmesh Sharad Kulkarni.

3. The Government of Maharashtra issued a GR dated 11/02/2022 granting ex-gratia of Rs. 50,00,000/- to the family members of municipal employees who died due to Covid- 19. The petitioners submitted the required documents and entered into correspondence with the Municipal Council vide letters dated 23/09/2022 and 07/12/2022. The employee was admitted to the respondent no. 6, a private hospital as he contracted Covid while on duty.

4. It appears that the name of the petitioner was not uploaded on ICMR portal at the hospital and subsequent attempts failed. Respondent no. 6 - Iqra Hospital on 09/11/2022 tendered an unconditional apology stating that due to lack of training, the name of late Shri Unmesh Kulkarni was not uploaded on ICMR portal and subsequent attempts had failed.

5. The petitioners issued a notice to the respondents no. 2 to 4 demanding release of ex-gratia amount within a period of two weeks. In terms of the procedure prescribed by GR dated 04/08/2021, after the certificate was obtained from Iqra Hospital that the employee was a victim of Covid-19 virus, the Municipal Council submitted a proposal to the District Administrative Officer through the Collector’s Office on 22/11/2021. In the said communication, it is clearly recorded that the concerned hospital has mentioned the cause of death as Covid-19 virus.

6. Learned AGP appearing on behalf of the Collector submitted that the Collector will now have to scrutinize the proposal dated 22/11/2021 which is submitted by Municipal Council in terms of what is provided in the GR dated 04/08/2021. It is submitted that the Collector would scrutinize the authenticity of the submitted documents and complete other formalities of verification of the documents resubmitted by respondent no.5 -Municipal Council. Learned AGP on instructions submitted that process of the verification and scrutiny as per GR dated 04/08/2021 will require a period of 4 weeks from the date of communication of this order. Lea