The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a positive COVID‑19 test report issued by a certified laboratory must be presumed valid unless there is evidence proving it to be forged. The Court directed the state to reconsider a compensation claim that had been rejected on the ground that no test report was available.
The matter arose from a petition filed by the widow of a man who died after developing COVID‑like symptoms while on duty for election work. The deceased was admitted to a government hospital and tested twice for COVID‑19, with the second test returning positive. The petitioner sought compensation under a government order providing ex gratia payments to employees who died within one month of performing election duty. However, the claim was initially rejected on the basis that no COVID‑19 test report had been submitted.
Upon review, the Court noted that a lab report from the official state COVID‑19 laboratory, including a computer‑generated slip with a valid case ID, had in fact been submitted. Although some doctors denied signing the report, there was no dispute regarding the existence of the report or any allegation of forgery. The Court held that the absence of a doctor’s signature on a computer-generated lab slip does not automatically render the document forged, especially when hospital records confirm that the deceased was a patient.
The Court further observed that the hospital authorities should have verified the patient’s details before rejecting the compensation claim, rather than presuming that the test had not been conducted. In the absence of any proof of forgery, the state was required to treat the lab result as genuine.
As a result, the High Court quashed the order rejecting the claim and directed the competent authorities to reconsider the petitioner’s plea for the ₹30 lakh compensation in accordance with the government order.
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