Supreme Court seeks Covid death ex-gratia data from Gujarat, Centre

The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the Gujarat government for deviating from its approved process and instead constituting a scrutiny committee for the disbursal of exgratia compensation to families of those who succumbed to Covid19 The top court also asked the Centre to bring on record data from various state governments in connection with exgratia distribution for Covid deaths and also provide information on setting up of grievance redressal committeesThe Supreme Court in its October 4 judgment had approved Rs 50000 exgratia for the kin of Covid victims which was recommended by the National Disaster Management Authority The order was passed on the plea of advocate Gaurav Kumar BansalSolicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the Gujarat Government submitted before a bench comprising justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna that an amended resolution has been issued following the apex courts direction On November 18 the top court observed the scrutiny committee seems to be an attempt to overreach its directionsMehta emphasized that even the amended resolution needs some tweaking The bench shot back Who passed the first notification Someone should take responsibility Mehta replied he takes the responsibility of it However the bench said why should he take the responsibility rather the officer concerned must be held responsibleAlso read Adherence to environmental and pollution norms cannot be compromised SCAt this juncture of the hearing Mehta informed the bench that the additional chief secretary has joined the virtual hearing The bench queried the secretary Who drafted this Who approved this Whose brain child is it He responded that the resolution was drafted in the department and finally the competent authority gave the approval The bench asked a pointed query Who is the competent authorityHe submitted that the competent authority is the chief minister The bench said Your chief minister does not know anything Mr secretary you are there for what If this is your application of your mind It further added that it is just a bureaucratic attempt to delay and mess up the matterMehta cited some fake claims in connection with the compensation However the bench seemed unrelenting and continued to slam the Gujarat government The bench said It will take one year to get the certificate from the scrutiny committeeMehta clarified that the additional secretary was answering the benchs query that final authority for signature is the chief minister The bench observed that if there were fake claims it cannot be an obstacle for genuine people Mehta assured the top court that its concerns will be addressed and the resolution will be modified and urged the court to list the matter for next MondayThe bench also sought details on compensation for Covid deaths in Gujarat The top court has fixed the matter for further hearing on November 29This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever