The Supreme Court on Monday approved the Centre’s plan to provide an ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 for all those who die due to COVID-19 in India.
Justice MR Shah said, “An amount of Rs 50,000 will be paid to the next of kin of the deceased and it will be over and above the amount paid by the Center and the state under various philanthropic schemes.”
“No state shall deny benefit of Rs 50,000 on the ground that the cause of death in the death certificate is not Covid-19. The district authorities will take corrective steps to fix the cause of death. The details of the district level committee will be published in the print media,” the Supreme Court ruled.
The court has further said that the payment will be from the State Disaster Relief Fund. The compensation amount has to be paid within 30 days of the application and the cause of death has to be certified as COVID-19.
Justice MR Shah said, “Ex-gratia will continue to be provided for the deaths even after the date of the judgement.”
Read also | States will provide Rs 50,000 compensation for each Covid death: Center tells SC
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recommended that Rs 50,000 be given to the next of kin of those who died of Covid-19, the Center informed the Supreme Court last month. It said that ex-gratia assistance would also be given to the next of kin of those who died of the virus due to involvement in COVID-19 relief work or activities related to preparedness to deal with the pandemic.
The government said that ex-gratia assistance would be given subject to the death being certified as COVID-19 as per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and ICMR.
The Center said that ex-gratia assistance will be provided by the states from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
The families concerned will submit their claims through a form issued by the state authorities along with specified documents certifying the cause of death.
The District Disaster Management Authorities shall ensure that the process of claim, verification, clearance and distribution is simple, robust and people friendly.
“All claims should be settled within 30 days of submission of required documents, and disbursed through Aadhaar-linked Direct Benefit Transfer processes,” the Centre’s affidavit said.
On September 3, the apex court had expressed displeasure over the delay in framing guidelines for issuance of death certificates to the families of those who died of COVID-19.
The apex court, in its June 30 judgment, had directed the NDMA to recommend guidelines for ex-gratia assistance for loss of life to the family members of persons who died due to COVID-19 within six weeks.
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