The High Court of Karnataka has said that it would consider the plea for payment of compensation to family members of the COVID-19 patients who died in Chamarajanagar district, allegedly due to lack of oxygen supply, after the outcome of the inquiry reports is known.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar passed the order on May 6 while hearing a PIL petition filed by K.M. Shreeniwasmurthy, a Chamarajanagar-based advocate. The Bench said it would hear the plea for payment of compensation for the 23 persons who died in the Chamarajanagar district hospital on May 2 and 3 after the preliminary report of inquiry, either by the IAS officer appointed by the State government or by the committee appointed by the Legal Services Authority, was submitted before the court.
On autopsy
On the prayer of the petitioner to direct the government to conduct autopsy of the persons who have died of COVID-19, the Bench said, “We do not think that at this stage, we can issue a direction to the State government to undertake autopsy of each and every person who has died of COVID-19.”
Regarding the plea for conducting an inquiry into the death of COVID-19 patients, allegedly due to lack of oxygen supply, in Kalaburagi, the Bench said it need not consider this plea at this stage. It, however, kept open the plea for payment of compensation even for the deceased in Kalaburagi.
