Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:107311-DB Court No. - 21 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 16869 of 2025 Petitioner :- Smt Sunita Devi Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Gaurav Tiwari,Pradeep Srivastava Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Kaushlesh Pratap Singh,Rama Nand Pandey Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Gupta,J. Hon'ble Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra,J. 1. Heard Shri Gaurav Tiwari, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned standing counsel for respondent No. 1 & 3, Shri K.P. Singh, learned counsel for respondent No. 2 and Shri Rama Nand Pandey, learned counsel for respondent No. 4. 2. The petitioner has prayed for a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to decide the claim of the petitioner for payment of ex gratia amount to her as a result of death of her husband due to Covid-19 infection during panchayat election, 2021. 3. The case of the petitioner is that her husband, who was working as Shiksha Mitra, was assigned the duty of booth level officer for panchayat election held in the year 2021 and while discharging his duties, he contacted Covid-19 infection resulting in his death on 02.05.2021. 4. The petitioner submitted a claim online and her claim was assigned a unique ID number on 13.06.2021. The application has remained pending without any decision by the respondents so far. 5. Shri K.P. Singh, learned counsel appearing for respondent No. 2 tried to submits that the claim was to be submitted within one month from the date of death but in the instant case the application was filed beyond the said period. 6. Learned counsel for the petitioner, on the other hand, submits that the claim was submitted with due expedition and keeping in mind the nature of the scheme and the gravity of the situation prevailing at the relevant time, the claim cannot be rejected on technicalities. 7. Learned standing counsel submits that the claim of the petitioner would be examined by respondent No. 3 expeditiously. 8. Accordingly, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the claim, the petition is disposed of with direction to respondent No. 3 to take decision on the claim of the petitioner within eight weeks from the date of communication of the instant order along with a fresh representation and supporting evidence. Order Date :- 8.7.2025 Mukesh Kr. (Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra,J.) (Manoj Kumar Gupta,J.) Digitally signed by :- MUKESH KUMAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad