The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) to pay ₹50 lakh as compensation to the widow of an employee who died after contracting Covid-19 while on duty during the pandemic. The court held that the corporation could not evade responsibility by narrowly classifying the nature of the deceased’s work.
A bench of Justices Makarand Karnik and Shriram Modak passed the order on February 24, observing that Sunita Bapu Jagtap was entitled to compensation for the death of her husband, Bapu Jagtap, who had been deployed for transport-related duties during the peak of the Covid crisis in March 2021.
Sunita Jagtap had approached the High Court after MSRTC rejected her claim in January 2022 and again in March 2023. The corporation argued that the deceased was not engaged in “essential services” and was not a driver operating interstate transport, and therefore did not qualify for compensation.
The High Court found this reasoning flawed, noting that the corporation had taken an unduly narrow view of the situation that prevailed during the pandemic.
The bench pointed out that public life had come to a standstill during the Covid period and that only limited public services, including transport operations, continued. It observed that employees who reported for duty during that time did so despite significant personal risk.
The court recorded that Bapu Jagtap had been deployed at the BEST bus depot in Wadala between March 24 and March 28, 2021, where he supervised traffic. He fell ill shortly thereafter, took leave from March 29 to March 31, and returned to his hometown of Manmad in Nashik district.
He tested positive for Covid-19 on April 5, 2021, after receiving treatment at a local dispensary, and died two days later at the sub-district hospital in Yeola due to Covid-related pneumonia.
Observing that it was part of his duty to attend work during the pandemic, the bench noted that he had done so “at the risk of his life”. The court added that he may have contracted the virus while performing his assigned responsibilities.
The High Court ruled that MSRTC could not avoid its obligation toward the deceased employee’s family merely by categorising his work in a restrictive manner. Holding that the widow was entitled to compensation, the bench directed the corporation to pay ₹50 lakh.
The order reinforces that employees who reported for duty during the Covid emergency, even in non-driver roles connected with transport services, cannot be denied benefits on technical grounds.
