CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has set aside an order of the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) directing payment of Rs 50 lakh compensation to the family of a Bhubaneswar-based civic worker, holding that he did not qualify as a ‘Covid Warrior’ under the state’s ex gratia scheme.
A single judge bench of Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi allowed a writ petition filed by the state government challenging the OHRC’s May 27, 2024 recommendation in favour of Sujata Singh, whose husband Sanjib Kumar Das died of Covid-19 in June 2021.
Das had been engaged by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation between May 5 and May 19, 2021, to feed stray animals during the lockdown. The corporation later claimed he was disengaged with effect from May 16, 2021.
He developed Covid-like symptoms on May 17, tested positive on May 27, and died on June 3 that year.
The OHRC had held that since he tested positive within 14 days of his last working day, he fell within the state’s guidelines and recommended compensation. However, the High Court disagreed, emphasising that the scheme requires a direct connection between the assigned duty and Covid-19 management.
“The first mandatory condition that the individual must have been drafted by government or its agencies to perform Covid-19 related duties, is not satisfied,” Justice Panigrahi observed, noting that feeding stray animals does not fall within the category of duties intrinsically connected with pandemic response.
The court further held that temporal proximity alone was insufficient. “The 30-day stipulation provides a temporal framework, but does not dispense with the need to establish that the infection bore a proximate connection to the assigned duty,” the Judge stated, adding that “there is no material to indicate such a duty-related linkage.”
While acknowledging the hardship faced by the family, the court stated limits of judicial intervention. “Sympathy, however compelling, cannot be a substitute for legal entitlement,” it said.
Concluding that the statutory conditions were not met, Justice Panigrahi quashed the OHRC order.