Missing RT-PCR Report No Ground To Deny COVID-19 Compensation When Hospital Records Confirm Infection: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has held that a claim for ex gratia assistance of Rs. 50,00,000/- under the Government's COVID-19 scheme cannot be rejected merely for want of a positive RT-PCR report, where the Government hospital's own records show a positive antigen result and the authorities themselves accept the infection and the cause of death.

The scheme provides a one-time payment of Rs. 50,00,000/- to the dependants of personnel who died of COVID-19 while performing duties connected with its prevention, protection or treatment. A Government Order dated 26.07.2021 required a legible copy of the deceased employee's RT-PCR, antigen or CT scan report to be uploaded on the Relief Commissioner's portal.

The bench of Justice Prakash Padia and Justice Garima Prashad held,

“Where the Government hospital's contemporaneous records expressly record a positive antigen result and the respondents accept the infection and cause of death, the absence of a separate copy of the test report cannot be treated as absence of proof of COVID-19.”

Petitioner's husband, a Junior Engineer at the Obra Thermal Power Project of the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited, remained on duty through the pandemic and was admitted to the Super Speciality COVID Hospital at Lodhi, Sonbhadra on 28.04.2021. His bed-head ticket recorded a positive antigen result and he died during treatment on 05.05.2021, the hospital's death proforma recording COVID-19 viral pneumonia followed by cardiopulmonary arrest.

On the recommendation of the Chief General Manager and the report of a committee headed by the Chief Development Officer, the District Magistrate approved the claim in June 2021, and the certificates were later verified as correct. Even so, the application was rejected on 16.11.2021, the table accompanying the order recording every required document as available except the positive RT-PCR report.

The Standing Counsel for the State submitted that the Government Order required such a report to be uploaded, that none was available, and that the claim could not be processed on the portal without it.

The Court observed that the Government Order itself allowed an RT-PCR, antigen or CT scan report, so an RT-PCR report was not the only recognised means of proving infection. It held that the requirement had to be read with the COVID-19 death-certificate form forming part of the scheme, which permits the certifying medical authority to record another source of confirmation where testing was not done by the specified methods.

Noting that the authenticity of the medical records had never been questioned and that the respondents had themselves accepted the antigen positive result and the death from infection in their affidavit, the Court held that the dispute concerned a missing report and not the recorded diagnosis. It further held that the claim had to be seen in the circumstances of the pandemic.

“Families dealing with serious illness, death and the arrangements that followed could not reasonably be expected to obtain and preserve every medical paper with the same ease as in ordinary conditions.”

Holding that the difficulty in uploading the report was administrative and could not justify withholding assistance where entitlement stood established on undisputed official records, the Court held that the rejection defeated the purpose of the scheme. Since the claim had already been approved in June 2021, it held that a direction to reconsider would only prolong payment outstanding since May 2021.

Accordingly, the writ petition was allowed and the order dated 16.11.2021 was quashed. The State Government, through the Relief Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh, and the District Magistrate, Sonbhadra, were directed to release and pay Rs. 50,00,000/- to the petitioner within eight weeks from the date of production of a certified copy of the order.