Supreme Court has done a lot to provide some relief to the kin of COVID-19 victims
It took a lot of persuasion from the Supreme Court and all its perseverance to get the central government to agree to pay last year COVID-19. Indicative compensation of ₹50,000 to the families of each of those claimed by, The time has come for the Court to assert its authority once again to ensure that neither laxity nor wrongful rejection of claims on the part of the States deprives the genuine victims of their entitlement to ex-gratia. In the latest hearing, Mr. Court had to pull up some states for not disbursing the amount fast enough and express concern about the high number of rejected claims. In the backdrop of reports that there has been a significant under-reporting of deaths due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the bench had passed an order a few months back to the effect that no person’s family shall be denied the benefit on the ground that the death The certificate did not specify the cause of death due to COVID-19. Early post-outbreak experience showed that many of the deaths were attributed to co-morbidity rather than infection. Also, many died after testing negative during their hospitalization or after their discharge. To remedy this situation, the Court directed that any death occurring within 30 days of a person testing positive or being medically determined to be suffering from the infection, would be eligible for ex-gratia payment. In addition, the Court devised an appeal mechanism in the form of Grievance Redressal Committees at the district level.
In the latest order, a division bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice Sanjiv Khanna has directed that if the claim is rejected due to defects in the application, the family should be given an opportunity to rectify the shortfall and then the compensation should be paid. . Noting that in some cases, the number of claims is less than the number of deaths registered, the court has directed that the authorities reach out to the families themselves. It has taken assurances from some states that claims which were cleared but not yet delivered would be cleared at the earliest. Significantly, it has also made it mandatory for applicants to disclose the reasons for rejection so that they can either rectify the errors or appeal to the committee for redressal of such complaints. In another attempt to ensure that eligible families are not denied benefits, the Court has linked legal services authority in each state and district to ascertain whether the official Compensation has been given to the families of all those recorded as dead due to the pandemic. Record, and facilitate payment if it is yet to be done. The Supreme Court has done much to offer some relief, though this amount may be in light of the staggering impact of the pandemic on the lives and livelihoods of millions.
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