COVID-19: HC seeks Delhi govt's reply on plea seeking to declare TVC members as frontline warriors

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought a response from the Delhi government along with other respondents on a plea seeking to declare town vending committee (TVC) members as frontline COVID-19 warriors in the national capital.

The petition filed by a man whose father while working as a street vendor died after a long battle with COVID-19. The plea sought to provide compensation of Rs 25 lakhs to the family and out of which Rs m1,00,000 lakh as interim compensation.

A single-judge bench of Justice Rekha Palli asked Delhi government and North Delhi Municipal Corporation to file a reply on the plea and listed the matter for October 4.

The petition was filed by Umesh Kumar through advocate Kawalpreet Kaur.

Umesh Kumar told the court that his father died after a long battle with COVID-19 in May in Delhi's Lok Nayak Hospital.

He told the court that his father performed the essential service during the COVID -19 pandemic and resulting lockdown while dealing with the public in general.

As per the petition, the petitioner's father, as an elected member of the TVC, conducted surveys within the area of its jurisdiction, identified street vendors in the area, ensured their accommodation and issued certificate of vending to an eligible street vendor. The petition said that the petitioner's father also performed other functions as mandated in the Delhi Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Rules, 2017.

"Henceforth, the petitioner before the Hon'ble court seeks the status of 'Frontline COVID-19 Worker' for his father who was a street vendor and an elected member of town vending committee-1 in the Civil Lines zone, North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Delhi. He was elected in the committee in July 2019 through elections," the plea said.

The petitioner also urged the High Court to direct the Respondents to recognize and declare, his deceased father as a 'frontline worker' who has not been yet recognised as a 'frontline worker' by the government of Delhi "despite serving the nation tirelessly and being the most vulnerable to the risk of infection."

"These elected members of TVC members are working at the grassroots level and meeting several people every day, many of whom could be Covid-19 infected. This puts them at a heightened risk of contracting the disease. Therefore, it is imperative that every member conducting survey is provided with adequate and quality PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), given gloves, priority vaccinated and given the status of 'frontline workers."

The petitioners noted that the schoolteachers, MCD employees, police personnel, ASHA and ANM workers, among others have been made part of the frontline workers by the Delhi Government and since, the elected members of the TVCs are also performing essential functions during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the lockdown, they should also be considered as the frontline workers.

( With inputs from ANI )