The Allahabad High Court has held that since the deceased Head Constable was assigned duty for prevention and control of COVID-19, spreading awareness, and helping infected persons, he squarely qualifies as a “COVID Warrior.” Accordingly, the deceased constable (petitioner) is fully covered under the Government Order dated April 11, 2020, which provides for payment of compensation to the family of a government employee who contracts COVID-19 while performing duties related to the prevention, control, and management of the pandemic.
On the question of remand, the Court declined to remand the matter to the competent authority, noting that the husband of the petitioner had died on April 21, 2021 and the matter had been “hanging fire for more than five years.”
The Division Bench comprising Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary and Justice Shekhar B. Saraf observed that a myopic interpretation cannot be given to “COVID-Duty” so as to confine it only to persons specially assigned to treat patients physically in hospitals. The Bench relied upon its earlier Division Bench judgment in Smt. Premlata Pandey vs. State of U.P. [Writ-C No. 17575 of 2023] involving a similarly situated Head Constable, and Sadhna Sahu vs. Union of India [Writ-C No. 20071 of 2024], where claims of persons who died during COVID-duty were upheld.
The Bench further referred to the judgment of Smt. Pushpa Devi vs. State of U.P. [Writ-C No. 5596 of 2026], wherein it had held that Government employees engaged in ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply for smooth running of hospitals were also to be treated as “Corona Warriors” eligible for ex-gratia compensation, even if not directly deployed in hospitals, upon a pragmatic reading of the Government Orders dated May 20, 2020 and June 22, 2021 as subordinate welfare legislation.
The Bench extended this principle to employees of police, water supply, telephone, and other essential services departments, holding that all such employees who worked during the COVID period should be treated as being on “COVID-Duty.”
Briefly, Semma Bharti, widow of Late Balwant Pratap, a Head Constable in the Uttar Pradesh Police Department, filed a petition seeking release of ex-gratia compensation of Rs. 50 Lakhs. Her husband had died due to COVID-19 on April 21, 2021. The State Government had rejected her claim on the ground that the deceased did not fall within the coverage of the Government Order dated April 11, 2020, which provided for ex-gratia payment to families of Government employees who died while performing COVID-related duties.
