The Allahabad High Court has sought the response of the Uttar Pradesh government in a plea seeking compensation of Rs 50 lakh for teachers and government employees who lost their lives due to COVID-19 during Uttar Pradesh panchayat election duty.
According to a report by Jagran.com, the PIL was filed by a teacher, Rahul Gangley. The plea says those who lost their lives due to coronavirus during Uttar Pradesh panchayat election duty should be given compensation of Rs 50 lakh as COVID-19 warriors.
The petitioner in his plea said the government is only giving Rs 30 lakh as compensation to the government employees who lost their lives after being infected on duty during the panchayat elections. The actual compensation amount for the COVID-19 warriors is Rs 50 lakh. This policy is discriminatory, the petitioner added.
Earlier, the Allahabad High Court had observed that the amount of compensation for polling officers, who died due to COVID-19 during Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh, is very less and the compensation must at least be to the tune of Rs 1 crore.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Siddharth Verma and Justice Ajit Kumar made this observation while hearing a Public Interest Litigation on the spread of the pandemic in the state and the conditions of quarantine centres.
"To compensate the loss of life of the family's bread earner and that too because of a deliberate act on part of the State and the State Election Commission to force them to perform duties in absence of RT-PCR support, the compensation must be at least to the tune of Rs one crore. We hope that the State Election Commission and the government will rethink the amount of compensation and come back to us on the next date fixed," it observed.
Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday expressed satisfaction over the improvement of facilities for COVID-19 treatment in some eastern Uttar Pradesh hospitals and expected similar steps in some other districts hospital in the region.
A bench of justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar registered its appreciation for the state government in improving the Covid management infrastructure in Bahraich, Shravasti, Bijnor, Barabanki and Jaunpur district hospitals.
"By the next date, the state government may further give a report on the improvement of medical infrastructures in five more districts, namely, Bhadohi, Ghazipur, Ballia, Deoria and Shamli," the bench said.
"We also find that satisfactory work has been done for the capping of fee for diagnostics. In respect of RT-PCR tests, the fee ranges between Rs 500 and Rs 900. For Antigen tests, the fee has been fixed for Rs 200. For True Nat private testing, it has been fixed for Rs 1,200," the bench noted.
As far as the vaccination of physically challenged persons is concerned, counsel for the state government submitted that the state would adopt the Centre's guidelines on the issue, the bench noted.
(With inputs from PTI)
