India, High Court of Delhi, 4 May 2022, W.P.(C) 5927/2021 & CM APPL. 18696/2021‎

Case overview

Country
India
Case ID
W.P.(C) 5927/2021 & CM APPL. 18696/2021‎
Decision date
Deciding body (English)
High Court of Delhi
Type of body
Court
Type of Court (material scope)
Constitutional Court
Type of jurisdiction
Single jurisdiction system
Type of Court (territorial scope)
State Court
Instance
1st Instance
Area
Education
Vulnerability groups
Children
Link to the full text of the decision
Decision_EN available on www.livelaw.in
General Summary

The Court sought the response of the Delhi Government and the ‎competent authority in the Ministry of Women and Child ‎Development, on the steps taken independently for the purposes of ‎continuing the education of children who may have lost their parents ‎due to Covid-19 in aided or government established schools as well ‎as further measures that may have been adopted for the purposes ‎of ensuring that their studies were not disrupted.‎

Facts of the case

The present writ petition was filed seeking expeditious ‎implementation of various schemes floated by the respondents for ‎providing compensation/ex gratia amount and other benefits to ‎families with children, where the sole bread earner had died due to ‎a lack of oxygen supply during the second wave of the Covid ‎‎-19 pandemic. The petition was filed by a mother and ‎natural guardian of the petitioners. Since the fact that appropriate ‎policy measures for the rehabilitation of children who had lost ‎parents during Covid-19 was duly formulated and adopted and ‎no longer disputed, the only issue surviving was that of the ‎continuance of education of children who may have lost one or more ‎of their parents due to Covid-19.‎

Type of measure challenged
National government measure
Measures, actions, remedies claimed
Payment of compensation and other relief to ensure the well-being ‎of children who lost one or both parents due to Covid-19
Individual / collective enforcement
Action brought by a qualified entity in the interest of a specific group of claimants for the purpose of injunctive measures or other remedies, including the annulment of administrative decisions, for the protection of a more general collective interest.
Nature of the parties
  • Claimant(s)
    Private collective
  • Defendant(s)
    Public
Type of procedure
Ordinary procedures
Reasoning of the deciding body

Directions were issued to the competent authority in the Ministry of ‎Women and Child Development to submit a further affidavit ‎explaining in detail the steps taken to ensure the continued ‎education of children who had lost their parents due to Covid-19 ‎and the further measures that may have been adopted for the ‎purposes of ensuring that their studies were not disrupted. ‎Furthermore, the Court sought details from the GNCTD regarding ‎the steps or measures it adopted independently for the purposes of ‎continuing the education of children who may have lost their parents ‎due to Covid-19 in aided or government-established schools. The matter was posted on 04.11.2022. ‎

The Court stated that there was a need to introduce directives ‎to deal with the subject of continuing the education of children who ‎may have lost one or more of their parents due to Covid-19.‎ The case is pending. ‎

Conclusions of the deciding body

The case is pending. ‎

General principle applied
Reasonableness
Authors of the case note
  • Dr. Tania Sebastian, Assistant Professor‎, VIT School of Law (VITSOL), Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai
  • Vishnupriya R.‎, Undergraduate student‎, VIT School of Law (VITSOL), Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai
Case identified by
VITSOL, VIT Chennai Research Team