BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday sought a response from the State Government on paying compensation to the families of 24 patients who died at Chamarajanagar District Hospital after oxygen levels dropped, on the intervening night of May 2 and 3.
The State-level Covid Monitoring Committee of the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, in its report submitted to the High Court on Wednesday, recommended paying of compensation.A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka said the State Government is liable to compensate the families, and it has to answer two issues raised by the report.
First, how will the State Government compensate families which have lost their dear ones due to its failure, the high court asked Advocate-General Prabhuling K Navadagi and Additional Advocate General Subramanya.Amicus curiae Vikram Huilgol drew the attention of the court to Supreme Court judgments on payment of compensation in such cases. The court noted that the apex court has held that the writ court can grant prayer for compensation under Article 226.
The second aspect of the report is on the government taking a decision on fixing responsibility on individual officers for their lapses. “We may note that the committee found the tampering of records of oxygen supply to the hospital in Chamarajanagar. Our order to keep records in safe custody by the chief secretary will continue,” it said.
The committee headed by Justice AN Venugopala Gowda submitted its report to the High Court on Wednesday, stating that 24 patients died at the Covid-designated Hospital in Chamarajanagar due to lack of oxygen.