Employees in the electricity, water supply, police and other essential departments who worked during the Covid period would be deemed to be on Covid duty, the court held. (AI-generated image) Allahabad High Court news: Observing that employees working in essential services such as electricity, water supply and telephone departments during the Covid-19 pandemic would be deemed to be on “Covid duty”, the Allahabad High Court has directed the authorities to release ex-gratia compensation to the wife of a man who succumbed to a Covid infection while serving in the electricity department. A bench of Justices Ajit Kumar and Indrajeet Shukla noted that the Uttar Pradesh government’s interpretation of ‘Covid duty’ was ‘very narrow’ as it was confined only to those directly engaged in hospital treatment. Justices Ajit Kumar and Indrajeet Shukla quashed the state government’s order rejecting compensation.…