The Kolhapur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday (December 23, 2025) ruled that Maharashtra must pay ₹50 lakh ex gratia insurance to the family of Sarita Patil, a contractual data entry operator who died of COVID-19. The court said eligibility should be based on the date of contracting the infection, not the date of death. Sarita Patil died on July 4, 2021, but contracted COVID-19 before June 30, 2021, when the scheme was active. The Division Bench of Justices M.S. Karnik and Ajit B. Kadethankar quashed a May 24, 2022, order by the Public Health Department rejecting the claim. The State had denied the benefit because the scheme ended on June 30, 2021. Petitioner’s counsel N.B. Khaire argued, "It is not in dispute that late Sarita Ramesh Patil was in the service of State Government and was discharging duties concerning Covid patients when she suffered Covid infection. Although she expired after 30th June 2021, she was infected prior to that date. The scheme is benevolent and should not be applied with technical rigidity." The Assistant Government Pleader, Tejas J. Kapre, argued the scheme was for a limited time, saying, "The insurance cover and ex gratia assistance was a scheme introduced and made operational for a specific period only. Confining the scheme to that period is a policy decision of the State Government." The court rejected the State's view, stating, "It is not the date of death, but the date of contracting Covid-19 infection which is material for grant of insurance coverage under the Government Resolution dated 29th May 2020 read with Government Resolution dated 14th May 2021." Addressing the State’s claim that contractual employees were excluded, the court said, "Agony and pains of family members of a Covid fighter are the same, irrespective of the nature of employment. Discarding a claim on the ground that the deceased employee was merely an outsourced contractual employee would defeat the very purpose of the scheme." The court invoked constitutional values: "To deny or restrict the relief to those who passed away after 30th June 2021 would be contrary to the values of justice, fairness, and dignity which animate our constitutional order, and also contrary to public conscience and societal gratitude." It stressed the scheme’s moral purpose: "The hardships faced by these workers and their families during the pandemic were immense and deserve recognition beyond mere symbolic gestures. Monetary benefits granted through a generous interpretation of the GR provide tangible relief to these families." The judges added, "Nature of service of a Covid fighter who dies while on duty due to Covid infection is immaterial to apply the benefits of insurance scheme to the family members of such employee. The State must act with sensitivity towards those who have suffered and must not allow procedural rigidity to eclipse substantive justice." The court ordered the State and Health Department to process and pay the benefit within eight weeks, with help from the District Health Officer, Kolhapur.