The Allahabad High Court has ruled that the absence of an RT-PCR report cannot justify rejecting a claim for Rs 50 lakh in ex gratia compensation under the Uttar Pradesh government’s COVID-19 scheme if official hospital records establish that the employee died due to the infection.
A Division Bench of Justice Prakash Padia and Justice Garima Prashad allowed a petition filed by Archana Singh, whose husband died while undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in May 2021. The Court found that the authorities had rejected her claim despite medical records confirming the infection and the district administration having approved the compensation.
The Court clarified that the government’s scheme recognised antigen and CT scan reports alongside RT-PCR reports as acceptable evidence of COVID-19. Consequently, insisting exclusively on an RT-PCR report was inconsistent with the scheme’s requirements.
Hospital Records Established COVID-19 as Cause of Death
The dispute arose following the death of the petitioner’s husband, who worked as a junior engineer at the Obra thermal power project of Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited.
He had continued performing his duties during the pandemic before being admitted to a government hospital at Lodhi in Sonbhadra on April 28, 2021.
The hospital’s bed-head ticket documented a positive antigen test. He subsequently died on May 5, 2021, during treatment.
According to the hospital’s death proforma, COVID-19 viral pneumonia was the underlying cause of death, followed by cardiopulmonary arrest.
The High Court held that the recording of cardiopulmonary arrest did not diminish the significance of COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death.
Compensation Approved but Later Rejected Over Portal Requirement
Following the employee’s death, the chief general manager of the company recommended compensation. A committee headed by the chief development officer also examined the claim.
Acting on these recommendations, the district magistrate approved the compensation in June 2021. The relevant certificates were subsequently verified and found correct.
Despite these findings, the authorities rejected the petitioner’s application on November 16, 2021, because an RT-PCR report had not been uploaded to the designated portal.
Defending the rejection, the State’s standing counsel submitted that the applicable government order required the report to be uploaded and that the claim could not be processed through the portal without the necessary document.
RT-PCR Not the Only Acceptable Proof of Infection
Examining the government order dated July 26, 2021, the High Court noted that it required applicants to upload a legible copy of an RT-PCR, antigen or CT scan report of the deceased employee on the Relief Commissioner’s portal.
The Bench observed that the order did not make an RT-PCR report the exclusive method of establishing COVID-19 infection.
In the present case, the government hospital’s medical records specifically documented a positive antigen result. The death proforma also identified COVID-19 viral pneumonia as the cause of death, followed by cardiopulmonary arrest.
The Court reasoned that when contemporaneous hospital records established the infection and the authorities accepted the cause of death, the absence of a separate test report could not be equated with a lack of evidence.
It further held that the hospital’s recording of cardiopulmonary arrest provided no justification for disregarding COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death.
Government Scheme Provided Rs 50 Lakh Assistance
The compensation scheme provided a one-time payment of Rs 50 lakh to the dependants of personnel who died from COVID-19 while carrying out duties related to the prevention, protection or treatment of the infection.
The High Court concluded that the petitioner’s claim could not be rejected merely because an RT-PCR report was unavailable when the official medical records substantiated the COVID-19 diagnosis.
Accordingly, the Division Bench allowed Archana Singh’s petition, rejecting the approach adopted by the authorities in denying the compensation claim.
