Opposing a petition seeking grant of ex-gratia amount of Rs 1 crore for the kin of an 87-year-old private doctor who died of Covid in April last year, the Delhi government Friday told the High Court that he had decided to see patients out of his own will, even when the Union Ministry of Health had asked the people of a particular age group to be careful.
The government argued that people’s money has to be spent with care and caution and Rs 1 crore is a huge sum. The scheme is an “insurance” for the doctors who did not have the choice to say no to the job, it said.
“We have to see our pocket. This is an ex-gratia scheme. This is not a statutory scheme where money has to be given to people under an obligation. This gentleman was a doctor of 85 years of age, 1935 was his date of birth. He died unfortunately of Covid on April 19, 2021. Can that be by any stretch of imagination burdened on public exchequer,” submitted Satyakam, a government counsel, before the bench of Justice V Kameswar Rao.
The government had earlier announced that Rs 1 crore will be paid to families of those doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, security staff, sanitation staff or any other government officials including police personnel who were deployed for Covid duties by it, and died contracting the disease during the discharge of their duty. However, the scheme in the case of doctors is limited to government hospitals or those private institutions which were requisitioned by the state to deal with the surge in Covid cases.
The government counsel told the court the scheme is a policy decision and age in the case before it is relevant. “The Government of India time and again said that people 62 years and above should be very careful. Every doctor cannot be given parity. It will create a chaotic situation,” Satyakam said, adding that the petition also does not disclose the kind of services the doctor was rendering.
The submission was made during the hearing of a petition filed by Saroj Gupta, the wife of Dr Shyam Gupta, who was practicing at his private clinic at Vishwas Nagar. Gupta had made a representation on February 6 to the government for grant of the ex-gratia amount.
Her petition also challenges the government scheme on the ground that it excludes doctors who were not deployed by the government. Advocate Ashok Agarwal, representing her, argued that the petition raises a question that whether a government scheme can be discriminatory.
The court adjourned the matter sine die after it was told that the issue is pending before a division bench of the High Court as well as the Supreme Court.
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