- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Shubham Ghosh
THE Supreme Court of India on Monday (21) reserved the verdict on the please seeking directions that ex-gratia payment of Rs 4 lakh (around $5,400) to the kin of those who died of Covid. A special vacation bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and MR Shah heard Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocates SB Upadhyay and other lawyers for almost two hours. The apex court then asked the parties to file written submissions and three days and specifically asked the Centre to simplify the process of grant of death certificates to the dependents of those who succumbed to Covid.
The Narendra Modi government had earlier told the top court that the ex-gratia amount cannot be paid to the families of those died of the deadly virus because the finances of both the central and state governments were in a bad shape. In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Home Affairs said it has taken several steps to provide substantial and speedy relief to every citizen in terms of health, infrastructure and food safety.
Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, one of the petitioners, had said that under Section 12(iii) of the Disaster Management Act of 2005, every family whose member died due to Covid is entitled for the ex-gratia compensation. According to him, the pandemic has been declared to be a disaster and as per the order of April 18, 2015, every family whose member dies in a disaster is entitled for ex-gratia compensation.
The counsel, appearing for another petitioner Reepak Kansal, had said that a large number of deaths happened because of Covid and death certificates had to be issued as only after that that the affected family members could claim compensation under Section 12(iii) of the act. Kansal said in his plea that the states should be asked to carry out their obligation to take care of the victims of Covid as well as their family members.
