The Supreme Court has pulled up the state governments for their slow pace of paying compensation for claims on Covid deaths.
“Punjab has recorded 16,567 Covid deaths. But why have only 8,780 claims for compensation been received,” the court asked.
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Maharashtra’s counsel told the court that compensation claims are coming in every day and district level officials are going to investigate the families of the Kovid victims and inform them about the relief plans.
So far 10,27, 72 claims have been approved while 49,116 claims have been rejected, officials said.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna said: “There is a serious discrepancy among the states. The number of deaths and applications recorded in many states do not match. In others, the applications are many and in some, they are few. Does it mean that people are not getting compensation forms online? Should we have a paralegal volunteer system?”
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Gujarat recorded 10,000 deaths, but the number of compensation claims stood at 91,000.
“In other states, the numbers are much less. There must be a reason for this. Is there a lack of information? Are people unable to file a claim,” the judge asked.
Punjab also recorded 6,000 deaths, but the number of claims received was 4,000.
Justice MR Shah said: “The applications received cannot be less than the deaths registered. Those details are registered with the government. These are the people who have died.”
Pulling up the states over the discrepancy in the figures for Kerala and Rajasthan, Justice Khanna said: “Why is there such a difference between applications for death and compensation? This means that there is a lack of information. It is the poorest section that is not getting information. Those who can read and write and have social media will get information about compensation claims.
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Advocate Manish Singhvi, appearing for Rajasthan said: “We have eMitra kiosks which are facilitating people to file applications for claims.”
Justice Shah also pulled up the Himachal Pradesh government. “The number of deaths recorded is 3,000, but applications received are only 650. What is this?”
The court did not even spare Jharkhand. “Look at Jharkhand! The deaths are 5,140. Application only 132.”
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Justice Khanna said that Aadhaar cards are usually linked with phone numbers. “Death certificates are issued along with Aadhar card. If you have phone numbers why can’t SMS be sent to families about compensation schemes.