NEW DELHI, 29 Nov: The Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern over the low number of claims for ex gratia compensation for Covid-19 deaths and directed the state governments to inform if wide publicity has been given concerning the scheme for compensation.
A bench of Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna directed the chief secretaries of all the states to submit compliance reports on the number of deaths recorded, claim forms received so far, and the number of persons to whom the amount of compensation has been disbursed.
The top court also directed them to apprise if any grievance redressal committee in each district has been constituted or not and whether any wide publicity has been given concerning the scheme for compensation and any exclusive online portal to invite applications and
for disbursal of the amount of compensation has been created or not.
“The particulars shall be supplied by all the states to the ministry of home affairs, union of India/NDMA on or before 3 December, 2021. The status report on the aforesaid aspects shall also be filed by the concerned states on or before the next date of hearing,” the bench said.
The top court was hearing a batch of pleas by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal and intervenors represented by advocate Sumeer Sodhi, seeking ex gratia assistance to family members of Covid-19 victims.
During the hearing, the apex court noted that in many of the states, the number of forms/claims received is on a much lower side.
“Some of the states have not even furnished any particulars. From the data, it also can be seen that the forms/applications received for compensation are on a very lower side,” it said.
The top court observed that either there is no wide publicity given by the concerned states concerning the compensation offered for the death of a person who has died due to Covid-19 or the concerned claimants are not made aware where to apply.
The apex court had earlier asked the Centre to gather information from the states on the progress made on disbursal of ex gratia compensation of Rs 50,000 to the kin of Covid-19 victims and pulled up the Gujarat government for issuing notification constituting a scrutiny committee contrary to its directions.
The top court had on 4 October said that no state shall deny the ex gratia compensation of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of the deceased due to Covid-19 solely on the ground that the death certificate does not mention the virus as the cause of death.
The court had also said that the ex gratia is to be disbursed within 30 days from the date of applying to the concerned district disaster management authority or the district administration along with the proof of the death of the deceased due to coronavirus and the cause of death being certified as died due to Covid-19.
The top court had said that its directions for payment of compensation to the family members of the persons who died due to Covid-19 are very clear and there was no requirement at all of constituting the scrutiny committee to award compensation.
The bench had said “it was very much made clear that even in a case wherein the death certificate the cause is not shown as death due to Covid-19 but if found that deceased was declared positive for coronavirus and has died within 30 days, automatically his or her family members are entitled to the compensation without any further conditions.” (PTI)
