Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the state government to pay Rs 50 lakh compensation to the family of a sweeper with Manmad Municipal Council (MMC) in Nashik district who died due to Covid-19 in 2021. “Any attempt to delay or defeat the claim on technical considerations shall be viewed seriously,” said a bench of Justices Makarand Karnik and Shriram Modak.The petition was filed by the legal heirs — mother, wife, and two sons — of Unmesh Kulkarni who joined MMC as a class IV employee on June 29, 1990. On January 9, 2021, MMC appointed Kulkarni as force staff to tackle the Covid-19 surge at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar playground and Railway Institute. Kulkarni died in harness due to Covid-19 on March 29, 2021.On February 11, 2022, the state issued a government resolution granting Rs 50 lakh ex gratia payment to the family members of municipal employees who died due to Covid-19. Kulkarni’s family submitted the required documents, but their claim was rejected as his name was not uploaded on ICMR’s portal by Iqra Hospital, where he was admitted. The hospital tendered an apology saying it happened due to lack of training and subsequent attempts failed. After obtaining the hospital’s certificate, the MMC, on November 22, 2021, submitted the proposal to the district administrative officer. The family’s advocate, Alankar Kirpekar, said thereafter it was not considered.The govt’s advocate Pooja Patil said the collector will have to scrutinise MMC’s proposal and authenticity of submitted documents and then make recommendations to govt for consideration.The judges said, “However, in the peculiar facts of this case, we are not inclined to adopt such a course.” They said no doubt the earlier proposal was incomplete for want of necessary documents, but the hospital had tendered an apology and issued a certificate that Kulkarni died of Covid-19.MMC’s advocate Shriram Kulkarni said it does not doubt the genuineness of the certificate. The judges found MMC’s communication, forwarding the proposal, “clearly mentions the cause of death as Covid-19”. They said there is no reason to doubt the genuineness of the certificate merely because it was issued by a private hospital. The proposal is pending since 2021. “At this distance of time, to again subject the proposal to a detailed verification and scrutiny would amount to adding to the agony of the family of the deceased employee who had served for 31 years as a sweeper with the municipal council,” the HC said. When the MMC has already scrutinised the proposal, the court was disinclined to subject it “for further verification and scrutiny by the collector and then by the state government”.The HC directed the Nashik collector to process MMC’s proposal immediately and forward it within four weeks to the urban development department (UDD). Thereafter, within four weeks, the UDD will grant approvals. The compensation “shall be paid to the petitioners” within 10 weeks from February 16, the HC said.
