Delhi HC issues notice on PIL seeking ex-gratia relief to kin of deceased judicial members, Court staff

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response on a Public Interest Litigation seeking direction to respondents to hold Late K Venugopal, Family Judge, Saket District Courts and Late Kamran Khan, MM, Dwarka District Courts, Delhi who recently lost their lives while performing their duties as frontline warriors and pay an amount of Rs 1 Crore each to the kith and kin of the deceased judicial members as an ex-gratia relief.

The bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh on Monday issued notice to the Government of NCT of Delhi and Delhi High Court Registrar General and others and posted the matter for June 4.

The petition also sought direction to Delhi Government and its various departments to pay appropriate ex-gratia relief to kith and kin not being less than Rs 50 lakhs per to officer/employee/court staff and further direct the respondents to provide employment to the next of the deceased on compassionate grounds.

The Petitioner, Tanveer Ahmad Mir, practicing lawyer also sought direction to the office of Registrar General of Delhi High Court to immediately collate and place on record the details of the members of other lower judiciary court staff, the court staff of the Delhi High Court who unfortunately may have lost their lives due to COVID-19 while performing their duties.

A considerable number of officers of the lower judiciary, court staff and Registry officials at the moment are further undergoing a harrowing experience of not only being unable to meet the medical expenses of the treatment of their near and dear ones as well as family members but also a number of officers and their immediate relatives most, unfortunately, have lost their lives as well, the plea states.

It also added that right from April 2020 onwards the subordinate judiciary and the court staff at the risk of their very lives, the livelihood of their family members came down to the court premises, organized the filings and achieved the target of complete coordination between the general public at large, the lawyers community as well as the judicial community.

During this period of time, a number of court staff members belonging to the lower judiciary as well as judicial officers got infected but nevertheless attended the court hearings, facilitated the same for the benefit of the general public at large.

( With inputs from ANI )