Supreme Court faults deadline for Covid-19 ex gratia claims

A volunteer comforts kin of a COVID victim, in New Delhi. File pic

The Supreme Court Monday said the deadline of four weeks, as suggested by the Centre for claiming ex gratia payment from authorities on the death of kin due to COVID-19, may not be sufficient as the families of the deceased would be distressed due to the loss of family members.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna indicated that a period of 60 days would be given to all such persons who are eligible as on date to apply for the ex gratia compensation and 90 days shall be given to the future claimants.

"It [four weeks] may not be an appropriate time period, as the family concerned may be in shock and four weeks may not be a good time. If there is a death, then the family would need time to recover from the sorrow and then file claims," the bench observed.

The apex court said that the National Disaster Management Authority should be conducting the exercise of determining the extent of fake ex gratia COVID-19 compensation claims, since it has been vested with powers under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

With regard to the Centre's plea seeking sample survey for verification of fake claims, the bench said it may focus on two-three states where registered deaths and claims have a difference.
At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, suggested fixing a deadline of four weeks to claim the ex gratia payment from authorities on the death of kin due to COVID-19.

Mehta said it may not be desirable to continue the process of ex gratia payment without any outer limit and urged the apex court to determine a deadline before which the claimants of persons who died can approach authorities raising their claims.

4,30,09,390 Total no. of Coronavirus cases in india so far
5,16,510 Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far
26,240 Total no. of active cases in India

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