The State government on Thursday told the High Court of Karnataka that it will immediately give ₹2 lakh each to the kin of the 24 people who died of oxygen shortage at Chamarajanagar district hospital early this month.
The State Advocate-General made this submission before a Special Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar in response to the court’s earlier direction to the government to consider ad hoc payment of compensation.
The Bench had asked the government on paying ad hoc compensation as a State-level COVID-19 monitoring committee, comprising two retired judges of the High Court, of the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority in its report had said that oxygen shortage was the cause for the death. The report had also pointed out lapses by the district and hospital administration in timely procurement of oxygen. While directing the government to immediately release compensation to eligible families, the Bench said that it would consider at a later stage the issue of adequacy of compensation and whether only 24 people died due to oxygen shortage.
Oxygen supply
Meanwhile, the Bench directed the State government to submit data on requirement of oxygen and how much of the oxygen allocated by the Centre had been procured by the State. Also, the Bench said the government will have to create buffer stock of oxygen in every district as per the Supreme Court’s order.
