New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) Delhi government Thursday told the Delhi High Court that the families of deceased police personnel who were not on dedicated COVID-19 duties but succumbed to the virus would not be entitled to the Rs one crore ex-gratia compensation.
Delhi government counsel distinguished the case of routine deployment of police personnel from that of doctors working in hospitals and said that roads were not as “risky” and it was possible for one to take adequate precaution.
“Road is not as much risky as a COVID-19 hospital is. He (a person on-road) can take precautions. Police are included (within the ambit of the posthumous ex-gratia scheme) if he is assigned a dedicated COVID-19 duty”, Delhi government counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi told Justice V Kameswar Rao.
The court was hearing petitions by the families of a deceased constable and a fingerprint expert at the crime branch for the release of Rs one crore ex-gratia compensation.
The judge questioned about the status of a policeman who is “standing on the road also ensuring curfew”, to which the counsel responded, “road is not that much risky” as compared to a hospital that is “contagious like anything”.
The lawyer informed that police personnel was sent on COVID-19 duties on orders passed by the respective Head of Department, which included deployment at hospitals, oxygen plants, etc.
“We deployed so many doctors, nurses, safai karamchari, etc at the crematorium, etc—these areas are risky zone. This special concession and promise (of compensation) were made to take of the immediate family of any deceased who was deployed on duty and sacrificed his life to save the lives of others. This was the reason,” he submitted.
The lawyer emphasised that if every person who died on account of COVID-19 is held to be entitled to compensation under the government’s scheme, it would become “impossible” for the government.
“If every person who died because of COVID-19, whether a government employee or from the private sector, is entitled, that is impossible for me. It has a financial implication,” he said.
“Unless the person is deployed for COVID-19 duty, he would not be entitled to this benefit,” said the counsel who stated that the deceased fingerprint expert was not on COVID-19 duty and was thus not covered by the scheme.
The Delhi government, in its reply, has already said that the deceased constable was also not eligible as he was not deployed on COVID-19 duty.
The court allowed counsel for the petitioners to file his rejoinder to the Delhi government’s stand and listed the case for further hearing on August 18.
In the reply, the government has stated the case of constable was examined in terms of Cabinet decision and he was not found covered as he was not deployed on the COVID-19 duty by the Delhi government and the decision was conveyed to the DCP, northwest on November 2, 2020.
In the petition, the deceased’s constable’s wife has submitted that she ran from pillar to post to secure the compensation promised by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet on May 7, 2020, a day after the death of her husband who was the sole breadwinner of the family.
The plea referred to Kejriwal’s tweet stating, “Amitji did not care for his life and kept serving us Delhi people. He got infected with corona and passed away. I pay homage to him on behalf of all the Delhites. His family shall be given an ex-gratia of Rs one crore.” The woman has said her husband was the first person from the police force to succumb to COVID-19 and that she was pregnant at the time of her husband’s death and now has two children — one aged five years and the other five months. PTI ADS RKS RKS
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Source: The Print
