LEELA SURANA Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, assailing the order dtd. 9/8/2021 passed by the respondent No.4/The District Education Officer, District-Shajapur (M.P.) whereby, the petitioner's application for grant of the benefit under the Scheme of Chief Minister Covid-19 Vishesh Anugrah Yojana (hereinafter referred to as 'the Scheme') has been rejected.

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that her daughter-Smt. Bindiya Surana, aged 44 years, who was a Government Teacher, passed away on 14/4/2021, on account of Covid-19 and as she died due to Covid-19, the petitioner applied for the compensation under the aforesaid Scheme. However, the respondent No.4/the District Education Officer, Shajapur has rejected the application, relying upon para 4.1 of the Scheme which mandates RTPCR test of the deceased to prove that he was Covid positive, holding that as the petitioner's daughter was not subjected to RTPCR test and, thus, it is not known whether she suffered from Covid-19 and her death was owing to Covid-19 only.

(3.) Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that admittedly, all the family members of the petitioner suffered from Covid-19. The RTPCR reports received through SMS by the family members have also been placed on record including the report of the petitioner herself. And, thus, it is submitted that as other family members also suffered from Covid-19, the petitioner owing to her symptoms, instead of getting tested for Covid-19 through RTPCR, directly went for herself examining through C.T. Scan test and as per the C.T. Scan report dtd. 16/4/2021, it has been found that she suffered from Covid -19 CORADS Grade-5, whereas, as per CO-RADS classification, the level of suspicion for CORADS grade 5 is very high typical Covid-19. It is submitted that the aforesaid document itself is more than sufficient to establish that the petitioner's daughter suffered from Covid-19 only and she died on 25/4/2021 in the Shajapur City Hospital, Shajapur.