"Policy Decision": Delhi HC Rejects Plea To Declare Town Vending Committee Members As Frontline COVID-19 Warriors
The Delhi High Court dismissed a writ petition seeking a declaration that members of the town vending committee are COVID-19 warriors.
The Court denied compensation of 25 lakhs to the the petitioner as there was no material to show that his father, who was a member of the town vending committee, was deployed for COVID-19 duties by the Government of NCT of Delhi.
The bench of Justice Subramaniam Prasad noted the Cabinet decision bearing no. 2835 dated May 13, 2020 and stated, “…shows that if any person, including Doctor, Nurse, Paramedical Staff Security/Sanitation Staff or any other Govt. Officer/Official, including Police Officer/official, whether temporary or permanent employee or contractual, in Government or Private Sector, deployed for COVID-19 duties by Government of NCT of Delhi, if expires by contracting the disease during discharge of his/her duty, his/her family shall be paid an ex-gratia amount of Rupees One Crore, posthumously.”
The Petitioner, Umesh Kumar approached the High Court with this Writ Petition seeking a direction to the respondent, Government of NCT of Delhi to provide compensation of Rs.25 lakhs to the family of the Petitioner and to declare the Members of the Town Vending Committee as the frontline COVID-19 warriors in Delhi.
As per the Counsel for the Petitioner, Petitioner's father was a Member of the Town Vending Committee and was participating in the meetings of the Town Vending Committee of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Civil Lines Area, Delhi. He later died owing to contracting COVID-19. It is therefore contended by his Counsel that the Members of the Town Vending Committee must be declared as frontline COVID-19 warriors and also the family of the Petitioner is entitled to the compensation.
Respondents contended that the issue of grant of compensation is a matter of policy. He further argued that the Petitioner's mother was already considered under the "Mukhyamantri Covid-19 Parivar Aarthik Sahayta Yojana Scheme" and a one-time payment of Rs.50k was paid to her therefore no other claim of compensation is made out.
The Court further noted another Cabinet decision bearing no. 3005 dated June 3, 2021 and a scheme called "Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Pariwar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana" for granting one-time ex-gratia payment to the family of those persons who passed away contracting COVID-19. As per the Court, Mrs. Somwati, wife of the deceased got one-time ex gratia of Rs 50k under that scheme.
The Court observed, “It is well settled that matters pertaining to grant of benefits under a Scheme is purely a policy decision and Writ Courts under Article 226 of the Constitution of India do not interfere with the policy.”
The Court further relied on the decision of the Apex Court in Reepak Kansal and Ors. vs. Union of India and Ors., (2021) 9 SCC 251 where it directed the Disaster Management Authority to recommend guidelines for ex-gratia to the family members of the deceased who died due to COVID-19 as mandated under Section 12(iii) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and what amount is to be offered was left to the National Authority/Central Government.
The Court stated that the guidelines issued by the Govt. Of NCT of Delhi is according to the directions of the Apex Court and the petitioner failed to show that the deceased was deployed by the Govt. Therefore, as per the Court, the present writ petition is devoid of any merit.
Accordingly, the Court dismissed the Writ Petition.
Cause Title: Umesh Kumar v. Govt. Of NCT of Delhi (Neutral Citation: 2024: DHC:2231)
Appearance:
Appellant: Adv. Umesh Kumar, Adv. Kawal Preet Kaur
Respondent: Adv. Anupam Srivastava, Adv. Dhairya Gupta, Adv. Ajjay Aroraa, Adv. Kapil Dutta
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