Two judge bench of SC scolds Uttarakhand government for making a widow run from pillar to post for nine years. Directs state govt to pay Rs one crore as financial compensation
A distressed widow of a doctor running from pillar to posts to seek monetary compensation on acount of the death of her husband during duty hours in Uttarakhand after finding no relief approached to Supreme Court for justice.
According to the Live Law , the deeply distressed woman have been running from pillar to post for the last nine years to receive the monetary compensation of Rs. Fifty lakhs which was her due officially but was made to run for justice.
The Supreme Court yesterday took the state government of Uttarakhand to task for this protracted delay and directed the Uttarakhand government return the entire amount with interest of the last nine years.
The husband of the widow had died during duty hours in 2016 at the Community Health Centre.
The government then had announced giving the bereaved family the monetary compensation of Rs. Fifty lakhs.
However, despite the decision of the state government’s health department to accord her the financial compensation of Rs. fifty lakhs, the distressed widow was made to run from pillar to post finally compelling her to approach the Supreme Court .
One can just imagine the tale of trivial and difficulties of the widow to seek her due.
This unambiguously speaks the way system works in Uttarakhand for those in distress seeking justice.
The apex court was so annoyed with the state government that it not only scolded it but also directed to pay Rs. One crore instead of Rs fifty lakhs to the distressed woman as has she got this amount in the year 2016 by the Uttarakhand government during the last nine years it would have been doubled in banks.
This case was being heard by the two judge bench of learned justices J.K.Maheshwari and Arvind Kumar of the apex court .
This petition was filed by the aggrieved widow after the alleged nin implementation of the the Uttarakhand high Court’s decision.
According to “Live Law story” The high court of Uttarakhand has in 2018 directed the state government to give the bereaved family the financial compensation of 1.99 crores.
While giving the judgement the High Court had ruled that the state government give the aggrieved family Rs.1.99 crores that included the interest of 7.5 crores to amount of Rs.fifty lakhs.
In addition to this the HC Uttarakhand also directed to pay the widow the pension and implementation of the provisions of the ” Medicare Services Persons and Institution Act 2013.
The two judge bench of the Supreme Court was extremely serious after hearing the plight of the widow saying that despite the chief secretary sanctioning the financial compensation of Rs. Fifty lakhs and chief minister of the state approving it the anguished family couldn’t receive their due amount leading the widow to run from the pillar to posts.
The counsel for the state clarified that Rs. 11 lakhs have already been paid to the aggrieved family earlier including the gratuity, pay leave, pension etc and a job of a junior assistent to the son of the deceased.
To this the two judge bench said that out of the Rs. One crore amount the government should deduct Rs.11 lakhs and give the family rest of the amount that comes to Rs 89 Lakhs.
In 2016 the Congress government headed by Harish Rawat was destabilised when nine MLAs of Congress had defected to BJP. This crisis led to the imposition of president’s rule there leading to fresh elections.
