VIJAYA YASHWANT JADHAV Vs. BLOCK DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioners, by this petition, seek relief in terms of prayer clause (b), which reads thus :

(2.) Brief facts of the petition are that Petitioners are the heirs and legal representatives of one Yashwant Khandu Jadhav, who was working as Extension Oicer with the Panchayat Samittee, Karveer. Petitioners are the wife, son and mother respectively of deceased Yashwant Jadhav. On 16/6/2021, Yashwant Jadhav contracted COVID-19 while discharging duty as a government servant. He succumbed to COVID-19 on 11/7/2021, while he was undergoing treatment in the hospital. Yashwant Jadhav was working in the oice of Respondent No.1, i.e., Block Development Oicer, Karveer, Panchayat Samiti, Kolhapur. Respondent No.2 is the Chief Executive Oicer of Zilla Parishad. Respondent No.3 is the Divisional Commissioner, Pune Division, Pune, under whose jurisdiction the Respondent Nos.1 and 2 function.

(3.) In the year 2020, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yashwant Jadhav, being an oicer working with Respondent No.1, was entrusted with the task of inding out COVID-19 infected people, performing anti-COVID tests, and taking them to the hospital. The irst COVID-19 wave was from March 2020 to the end of 2020. The Central Government implemented the scheme of insurance cover of Rs.50.00 lakh to the health workers, who were in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients and who may have been at risk of being impacted by the same, which would also include accidental loss of life on account of contracting COVID-19. The State Government, in line of the insurance scheme framed by the Central Government, issued a Government Resolution ("GR" for short) dtd. 29/5/2020, providing insurance cover to the employees of the State Government, employees of Local Self Government bodies and employees of Public Undertakings. The beneits under the said GR applied to those who succumbed to COVID-19 till 30/9/2020. The GR was extended from 30/9/2020 to 31/12/2020 by GR dtd. 14/10/2020. As the COVID situation worsened, by another GR dtd. 14/5/2021, the beneit of insurance cover of Rs.50.00 lakh under the Government Resolution dtd. 29/5/2020 was further extended till 30/6/2021. The said cover remained subject to the terms and conditions laid down in GR dtd. 29/5/2020.