The Bombay High Court has held that ex-gratia compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) could not be denied merely because the hospital where a frontline health worker was deployed had not been formally requisitioned or notified as a dedicated Covid-19 treatment centre.
The Division Bench of Justice RG Avachat and Justice Ajit B Kadethankar passed the order on a writ petition challenging the rejection of a claim for ex-gratia compensation under the Union Government’s pandemic welfare scheme, following the death of a staff nurse who succumbed to Covid-19 infection while deployed during the pandemic.
The High Court held that the authorities had imported an extraneous and impermissible condition into the scheme. Such a narrow and restrictive interpretation was contrary to the object and purpose of the PMGKP, which was conceived as a comprehensive social security measure for frontline workers exposed to elevated occupational risks during the Covid-19 emergency, it added.
The deceased was serving as a staff nurse and was deputed to a police hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic. She was deployed as a frontline health worker and had come into contact with suspected Covid-19 patients while discharging official duties. She was subsequently diagnosed with Covid-19 and succumbed to the infection within a short span.
The competent authority certified that the cause of death was Covid-19 and that the health worker had remained on duty during the 14 days preceding her demise, in conformity with the eligibility criteria prescribed under the PMGKP guidelines. The claim for compensation was duly processed and recommended by the district-level and divisional authorities.
However, the State Technical and Administrative Committee rejected the claim solely on the ground that the police hospital where the deceased was posted was not included in the list of hospitals requisitioned or notified as Covid-19 treatment centres.
Aggrieved by the rejection, the petitioner approached the High Court, contending that the decision imposed conditions foreign to the scheme and defeated its welfare-oriented intent.
Upon examining the PMGKP and the parent order issued by the Union of India, the High Court held that the scheme did not prescribe, either expressly or by necessary implication, that a health worker must be deployed at a formally notified Covid-19 treatment facility to qualify for ex-gratia compensation.
The Bench emphasised that the determinative considerations under the scheme were the status of the employee as a frontline worker, deployment during the pandemic period, and the causal nexus between official duty and contraction of Covid-19 resulting in death. Once these elements were established through certification by the competent authority, denial of benefits on hyper-technical grounds would be legally untenable.
The Court noted that preliminary medical facilities, including police hospitals where suspected Covid-19 patients were examined or screened, exposed health workers to comparable risks. Excluding such institutions from the protective ambit of the scheme would result in an arbitrary and irrational classification, offending Article 14 of the Constitution.
From an administrative law perspective, the Bench held that the rejection suffered from illegality, irrationality, and procedural impropriety, as the authority had relied on considerations extraneous to the scheme, thereby vitiating the decision-making process. The Court reiterated that welfare schemes must receive a purposive and liberal interpretation consistent with their remedial and beneficent character.
The Bench also relied on settled jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and the High Court holding that social welfare measures could not be defeated by rigid or technical constructions that undermine legislative or executive intent.
Holding that the rejection of the claim lacked a rational nexus with the scheme and amounted to an unreasonable and hostile interpretation, the High Court quashed the impugned order.
The Court directed the competent authority to process the claim afresh and grant ex-gratia compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package in respect of the deceased health worker. The compensation should be disbursed within 16 weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the judgment, it added.
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