Patna: Patna High Court on Monday directed the state govt to strictly follow Supreme Court’s guidelines while determining eligibility for payment of ex gratia in cases of deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The court also ruled that the govt was not obliged to pay interest on delayed ex gratia, as they were part of a welfare scheme.A single bench of Justice Alok Kumar passed the order while disposing of two writ petitions filed by Shanti Devi and Vinod Kumar. The court directed Bihar State Health Society and its Patna district unit to reconsider the petitioners’ claims for payment of ex gratia.Justice Alok also said committees constituted in each district of Bihar to assess eligibility for ex gratia payments in Covid-19 death cases should not act in a “mechanical as well as arbitrary manner”.The court expressed astonishment at the decisions of Bihar State Health Society’s Patna district committee in the two cases. Although the deaths had been accepted as Covid-related, the committee rejected the claims for ex gratia payments by the deceased persons’ kin on the ground that the laboratories that detected the infections were not authorised.Reiterating its earlier ruling, the high court observed, “When death certificate and medical documents certify a Covid death, then in such circumstances, the status of the laboratory concerned becomes insignificant.”
