Prayagraj Dec 17 PTI The Allahabad High Court on Friday sought the Uttar Pradesh governments stand on a plea challenging the denial of the Rs 30 lakh ex gratia to the husband of a woman government employee who died of COVID-19 over a month after discharging her panchayat poll duties in the state A bench of justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Vikram D Chauhan sought the states governments stand on the plea of a Hapur resident who also challenged a provision of the governments order which stipulated that only those state employees would be given the ex gratia who die of COVID-19 within 30 days after discharging the poll duty In his plea Hapur resident Subhash Chandra submitted that his wife had died of COVID-19 on June 20 this year after discharging her panchayat poll-related duty on April 29 He told the court that the government had issued an order on June 1 that the family members of those government employees who would die of COVID-19 after contracting the infection during the Panchayat poll duty would be given an ex gratia of Rs 30 lakh The government order however had stipulated that the ex gratia would be given to the family members of only those employees who die of COVID-19 only within 30 days after contracting Covid while discharging their duty Accordingly the government denied him ex gratia because his wife had died of COVID-19 a few days after the stipulated deadline of 30 days Chandra challenged this stipulation in the government order terming it as arbitrary and arguing that after contracting COVID-19 the length of survival of a person depends on many factors including his or her immunity willpower the intensity of infection etc Taking cognisance of the plea the court issued notice to the state government fixing its hearing in February 2022 PTI CORR RAJ RAX RAX

New Delhi Oct 25 PTI A judicial officer and an advocate were on Monday apppointed as judges of two high courts while another one was transferred from Andhra Pradesh to the Calcutta High CourtUma Shanker Vyas a judicial officer was appointed as judge of the Rajasthan High Court Vikram D Chauhan an advocate was appointed as judge of the Allahabad High Court the Law Ministry said Justice Joymalya Bagchi of the Andhra Pradesh High Court has been sent to the Calcutta High Court the ministry said PTI NAB DV DV