The Patna High Court has directed Bihar authorities to strictly follow Supreme Court guidelines while deciding eligibility for Covid death relief, ordering a fresh review of claims rejected by a district committee and warning against mechanical or arbitrary assessment of applications.
A single bench of Justice Alok Kumar issued the directions while disposing of two writ petitions filed by Shanti Devi and Vinod Kumar. The court instructed the Bihar State Health Society and its Patna district unit to reconsider the petitioners’ claims for ex gratia payments relating to deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The cases concerned claims rejected by the Patna district committee constituted to assess eligibility for the relief. According to the court record as reported by the Times of India, the deaths had been accepted as Covid-related, but the claims were rejected because the laboratories that detected the infections were allegedly not authorised.
The High Court held that this reasoning could not override death certificates and medical records that certified the deaths as Covid-related. Reiterating an earlier ruling, the court observed, “When death certificate and medical documents certify a Covid death, then in such circumstances, the status of the laboratory concerned becomes insignificant.”
The ruling places the emphasis on the medical and official documentation of a Covid death rather than on the authorisation status of the laboratory alone. It also directs the committees operating in Bihar’s districts to assess claims in accordance with the Supreme Court’s guidelines and not to dispose of applications through routine or unsupported reasoning.
The court expressed astonishment at the decisions taken by the Patna district committee in the two cases. Its direction to reconsider the claims does not itself amount to an order for immediate payment, but requires the competent authorities to examine the applications again under the applicable criteria.
The High Court also ruled that the state government was not required to pay interest on delayed ex gratia amounts. It held that the payments formed part of a welfare scheme, distinguishing them from a liability on which interest would ordinarily be imposed because of delayed payment.
The order highlights the role of district-level committees in converting broad welfare guidelines into decisions affecting individual families. It also underscores the importance of consistency in the treatment of death certificates, medical documents and laboratory records when authorities determine access to pandemic-related relief.
The Bihar State Health Society and its Patna district unit must now reconsider the petitioners’ claims in line with the High Court’s directions and the Supreme Court guidelines referred to in the order.
