The petition says that giving this financial help is not just a kind act, but a legal responsibility under Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
NEW DELHI: Today, 2nd May, Taking note of the submissions, the Supreme Court directed that “all states that haven’t submitted their responses” must file their official replies within four weeks. The Court further ordered that “the petitioner may file a reply, if needed, within six weeks after that.”
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The Supreme Court of India is hearing a petition that seeks financial compensation for families of those who died due to COVID-19.
The petition says that giving this financial help is not just a kind act, but a legal responsibility under Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The petitioner’s lawyer told the Court that “many states have not yet submitted their responses” to the petition.
The petition argues that compensation should be given to the families of COVID-19 victims as a legal right. It refers to Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act, which talks about the duty of the government to help people affected by disasters by providing relief, including financial support.
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Earlier, The Supreme Court approved the Centre’s proposal to provide Rs. 50,000 as financial assistance to the next of kin of individuals who died due to COVID-19. This compensation will apply to both past and future deaths caused by the virus and will be in addition to any existing schemes launched by respective state governments, the Court clarified. The bench directed that all claims must be settled within 30 days of submission of the required documents.
The order was passed by a bench led by Justice M.R. Shah and also comprising Justice A.S. Bopanna. Emphasising that no eligible family should be denied compensation due to technicalities, the bench stated:
“No state government shall deny compensation on the ground that the cause of death on the death certificate is not mentioned as COVID-19.”
The Court further instructed that in such cases, affected individuals may approach the designated district-level authorities.
“If the death certificate does not cite the cause of death as COVID-19, then aggrieved parties may approach the concerned officials of the district committee. DDMA (District Disaster Management Authority) address and contact details need to be published in all media for awareness. Publish in a week from today,” the bench ordered.
In an earlier hearing, the Supreme Court had expressed satisfaction with the Centre’s decision to offer Rs. 50,000 as compensation for every confirmed COVID-19 death. The compensation is to be disbursed by the respective state governments through their disaster relief funds.
Notably, on June 30, the apex court had directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to frame guidelines for compensating the families of those who died due to COVID-19. Following this, the Centre filed an affidavit recommending Rs. 50,000 as ex-gratia compensation for each COVID-19 victim.
