Doctors who died on duty during COVID-19 entitled to insurance under PMGKY: SC
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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court held on Thursday that the families of the doctors who died while doing their duties during the COVID-19 pandemic are entitled to an insurance coverage of Rs 50 lakh under the "Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana".
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan set aside a Bombay High Court judgment that had held that private doctors were not entitled to the coverage under the government's insurance scheme.
"There is a requisition of the services of doctors and this is evident from the conjoint reading of the provisions of the Act, the Maharashtra Prevention and Containment of COVID-19 Regulations 2020, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation Order dated March 31, 2020, the PMGKY-Package Scheme, the explanatory communication to the PMGKY policy and the FAQs released," the bench said.
It said the invocation of laws and regulations was intended to leave no stone unturned in requisitioning the doctors and the insurance scheme was equally intended to assure doctors and health professionals in the frontline that the country is with them.
The court said individual claims for insurance made under the PMGKY-Package will be considered and decided in accordance with the law and on the basis of evidence.
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"The onus to prove that a deceased lost his life while performing a COVID-19-related duty is on the claimant and the same needs to be established on the basis of credible evidence," it added.
The top court was hearing a plea moved by Pradeep Arora and others against a March 9, 2021, order of the Bombay High Court that held that private hospital staffers were not entitled to receive benefits under the insurance scheme unless their services were requisitioned by the state or the central government.
A plea was filed in the high court by Kiran Bhaskar Surgade, who lost her husband -- who ran a private clinic in Maharashtra's Thane -- to COVID-19 in 2020.
The insurance company rejected her claim under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) on the ground that her husband's clinic was not recognised as a COVID-19 hospital.
The PMGKP was announced in March 2020 and its coverage has since been extended.
It was launched to provide a safety net to health workers to ensure that in case of any adversity due to COVID-19, their families are taken care of.
An insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh is provided to the health workers under the PMGKP, which has become a safety net for the dependents of the Covid warriors who lost their lives to the infection.
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SIT files charge sheet in 'vote theft' case, names ex-BJP MLA, son, 5 others
Bengaluru (PTI): The SIT which is probing the alleged 'vote chori' (vote theft)' in the Aland Assembly segment in 2023 Assembly elections in Karnataka, has filed a charge sheet naming seven persons, including a former BJP MLA, his son and his close aide.
The charge sheet, filed before the First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Bengaluru by the Special Investigation Team, relates to alleged efforts to remove the names of 5,994 voters.
According to sources in the CID, the charge sheet comprises over 22,000 pages explaining in detail the modus operandi adopted to delete the voters' names.
Those named in the charge sheet are Subhash Guttedar, a four-time former MLA from Aland, his son Harshanand Guttedar, his personal secretary, Tipperudra, three Kalaburagi-based data centre operators-- Akram Pasha, Mukaram Pasha and Mohammed Ashfaq-- and Bapi Adya from West Bengal.
Adya was the first person to be arrested in the case. He allegedly operated a website, OTPbazaar, which was linked to a US-based platform to provide an "OTP bypass" facility. He was later released on bail.
A special court had earlier granted anticipatory bail to Guttedar, his son and Tipperudra, sources said.
On Saturday, Harshanand rubbished the charges against him saying he and his father has been framed in a false case.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the campaign against vote chori drive has started from the Freedom Park in Bengaluru.
On Sunday, a protest rally against vote chori has been organised at Ram Leela Maidan in Delhi where thousands of people are going to take part, he added.
Congress leaders from across the state and more than 100 legislators are taking part in it, the Deputy CM said.
Shivakumar said he is also going to Delhi to attend the protest rally. He being the Congress Karnataka state unit president has to make arrangements for the accommodation of people from the state.
"We may have faced defeat but we are confident about spreading awareness among people. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has organised the protest while AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge is leading the campaign. We are going there to support them," the Deputy CM said.
