The Delhi High Court has asked the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi to pay Rs 50,000 ex gratia to the kin of a man who lost his life to complications caused due to coronavirus.
The Delhi government had told the high court that the man’s family was not entitled to compensation under Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Pariwar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana (MCPASY) as he passed away one month after testing positive for Covid-19, a PTI report said.
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According to the report, the court refused this contention by the Delhi government and noted that the hospital’s death summary indicated that the man contracted COVID-19 and was admitted and remained at the hospital till his death in June 2021.
Justice Subramonium Prasad of the Delhi high Court noted that the death summary by hospital categorically points out that the man had contracted COVID-19, and suffered aftereffects of from it. He further noted that just because the ultimate cause of death is shown to be cardiac arrest does not mean that the husband of the petitioner did not pass away due to the complications arising out of COVID-19, the report said.
The deceased man’s wife had moved the high court seeking direction to the Delhi government to release compensation under the MCPASY.
The high court also referred to a Supreme Court’s 2021 judgment regarding grant of ex gratia assistance to the kin of the persons who passed away due to COVID-19.
A Supreme Court judgment had said that irrespective of the cause of death mentioned on the death certificate, if a family member of a deceased person satisfies the eligibility criteria and provides required documents, he or she can claim ex-gratia payment of Rs 50,000. The state cannot deny on the ground that the death certificate does not mention Covid-19 as cause of death.