Mumbai High Court Rules on COVID-19 Compensation Claims

Court's Decision on COVID-19 Compensation Claims

The Mumbai High Court has ruled that a compensation application filed after the death of an individual due to COVID-19 cannot be dismissed solely because the RT-PCR test did not confirm the infection.

The Aurangabad bench of the High Court instructed the district collector of Ayanagar to initiate the process for a claim of ₹50 lakh under the Prime Minister's Garib Kalyan Yojana. This claim was made by a person whose wife, a healthcare worker, passed away during the pandemic.

In an order issued on January 9, Justices Arun Pednekar and Vaishali Jadhav stated that the collector's decision to reject the compensation claim based on the absence of an RT-PCR report was unacceptable.

The court directed the collector to process the claim made by Machindra Gaikwad under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, which was established for the families of COVID-19 warriors, doctors, and healthcare workers who lost their lives during the pandemic.

The court emphasized that the collector should acknowledge the claim and forward it to the relevant authority, recognizing that the individual's wife was suffering from COVID-19 at the time of her death.

Despite the RT-PCR report indicating a negative result, other medical documents confirmed the infection. The court noted that CT scans, oxygen levels, and the death certificate clearly indicated COVID-19 as the cause of death.

The High Court asserted that the applicant's compensation claim could not be dismissed simply because he failed to provide a report confirming that the deceased was affected by COVID-19.