The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the State government to submit the reasons for its decision against enhancing the accident coverage to ₹50 lakh from the present ₹30 lakh for police, Fire Services, and Home Guards personnel, anganwadi workers, pourakarmikas, sanitation workers, and sanitation-related vehicle drivers and loaders in case of their death during COVID-19 duty.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar issued the direction as the Finance Department said it was not possible to enhance the amount to ₹50 lakh as offered by the Union government to the healthcare workers under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan package.
A note signed by an Under Secretary of the Finance Department, submitted before the Bench on Wednesday, stated that the State was not in a position to enhance the amount to ₹50 lakh as a result of financial crunch owing to lack of revenue as the amount of ₹30 lakh is paid by the State government from its exchequer unlike the Union government, which offers ₹50 lakh through an insurance scheme.
The department’s note also indicated that health workers deal with COVID-19 patients but the police, Fire Services, and Home Guards personnel, anganwadi workers, pourakarmikas, sanitation workers, and sanitation-related vehicle drivers and loaders were not directly engaged in duties related to COVID-19 patients and healthcare.
However, the Bench directed that a responsible senior officer of the government must submit details of reasons cited for coming to the conclusion against granting ₹50 lakh compensation to non-healthcare personnel working in the frontline to check the spread of COVID-19. The Bench, earlier, had asked the government to consider enhancing compensation to non-healthcare workers on the lines of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan package.
Query on denial of admission
The Bench asked the government to respond to an emial, sent to the office of the Chief Justice, by one Chikkanarasaiah, 70, of Bengaluru complaining about the death of his 37-year-old son-in-law Chethan Kumar as 15 to 20 government and private hospitals refused to admit him without COVID-19 negative report in July.
Though a leading private hospital admitted him in the last minute, he died owing to delay in getting treatment, it was stated in the e-mail while pointing out that two conflicting COVID-19 report, one negative and one positive, added to the misery of the family. He has also narrated the difficulty in securing the body for cremation while seeking compensation to his daughter and her two young children from the government for its failure to provide treatment.
