HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD LUCKNOW WRIT - A No. - 733 of 2022 Court No. - 18 HON'BLE SHREE PRAKASH SINGH, J. Order on Amendment Application Objection to the amendment application has not been filed by the opposite parties. The ground taken in the amendment application is sufficient. Accordingly, Amendment Application is allowed. Learned counsel for the applicant-petitioner is permitted to incorporate the necessary amendments in the writ petition, during course of the day. Order on Writ Petition Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri G.K.Singh, learned counsel for the opposite parties no. 1 to 4, Sri Ran Vijay Singh, learned counsel for the opposite party no.5, Sri Ajay Verma, Advocate, holding brief of Sri Ayush Chaudhary, learned counsel for the opposite party no. 6 and perused the record. The present writ petition has been filed seeking the writ of Mandamus commanding and directing the opposite parties to make the payment of ex.gratia amount to the petitioner on account of death of husband of the petitioner due to Covid 2019. Versus Counsel for Petitioner(s) : Arun Kumar Tripathi, Girish Dutt Pandey, Sudeep Srivastava Counsel for Respondent(s) : C.S.C., P.K. Singh Bisen, Rakesh Kumar Chaudhary Smt. Anita Shukla .....Petitioner(s) State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Basic Education Lko. And 5 Others .....Respondent(s) It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the husband of the petitioner was an Assistant Teacher in basic education department and he was on duty in Gram Panchayat Elections vide the duty assigned on 16-04-2021 and during the election duty, the husband of the petitioner got infected and in a critical situation, he was hosptialized in Jijivisa Medicare, George Town Allahabad and thereafter in T.B. Sapru Hospital, Prayagraj on 05-05-2021 in Covid Trauma Centre, wherein the antigen test was got done, and the report was found Covid positive and subsequent thereof, he was got admitted in S.R.N. Hospital, Prayagraj in Covid I.C.U., wherein the investigation was also done and he was found Covid positive and unfortunately, during the course of treatment, he died on 08-05-2021. Adding his arguments, he submitted that after the death of the husband of the petitioner, the petitioner tried to get the records regarding the Covid test and once, it was asked, she failed to produce it, but, subsequently, on 09-11-2021, she succeeded to get the 'Covid 2019 Death Certificate', issued by the Chief Medical Officer,Prayagraj, appended as annexure no. 4, alongwith this writ petition. He further submitted that since the authorities had already taken a decision that the petitioner has been failed to upload the proof of Covid 2019. He submitted that the fact regarding the issuance of the Covid 2019 death certificate cannot be belied as the same has been issued by the Chief Medical Officer, Prayagraj on 09- 11-2021. He also submitted that after the death of husband of the petitioner, she was not in a mental status to collect the death certificate etc. and that too, was not available as the same was issued on 09-11-2021, therefore, any decision taken prior to the death certificate issued, would have no impact with respect to entitlement of the petitioner for payment of ex.gratia amount. Thus, submission is that the competent authority may be directed to make payment of the ex-gratia amount as is payable to the petitioner, within the time prescribed by this court and the order passed by the District Basic Education Officer, Pratapgarh, by which the claim of the petitioner for payment of ex.gratia amount has been declined, may be quashed. WRIA No. 733 of 2022 2 Per contra, learned counsel appearing for the State has opposed the contentions aforesaid to the extent that on the date of consideration by the competent authority with respect to the payment of ex.gratia amount, the petitioner has admittedly been failed to provide any proof regarding the death of her husband due to Covid 2019. Upon considering the submissions of learned counsels for the parties and after perusal of records, it is apparent that vide order passed by the District Basic Education Officer, Pratapgarh, the claim of the petitioner for payment of ex.gratia amount has been declined. When this court examines the entitlement of the petitioner regarding the payment of ex.gratia amount, it is apparent that the same has been declined on the ground that the petitioner has been failed to submit any proof regarding the death of her husband due to Covid 19. This court finds that the decision was taken in the month of June, 2021, whereas uptill that period of time, the Covid 2019 death certificate with respect to the petitioner, could not be issued as the same was issued subsequently on 09-11-2021, by the Chief Medical Officer, Prayagraj, which is appended as annexure no. 4 alongwith this writ petition. It seems that because of the aforesaid reasons, the petitioner has been declined for payment of the ex.gratia amount. Consequently, the order impugned passed by the District Basic Education Officer, Pratapgarh, appended as at page 46 of the writ petition, is hereby quashed. The matter is remitted back to the District Magistrate, Pratapgrah to take decision afresh, in the light of the 'Covid 2019 death certificate' issued by the Chief Medical Officer, Prayagraj dated 09-11-2021 as well as the relevant government order, within the period of six weeks from the date a certified copy of this order is placed before him. Needless to say that if the 'Covid 2019 death certificate' is found genuine, the amount of ex.gratia shall be paid within further period of WRIA No. 733 of 2022 3 four weeks from the date of the decision taken by the District Magistrate, if there is no other legal impediment. With the aforesaid observations, the present writ petition is hereby allowed. December 5, 2025 AKS WRIA No. 733 of 2022 4 (Shree Prakash Singh,J.) Digitally signed by :- ANUJ KRISHNA SRIVASTAVA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench