- Sunday, February 23, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Supreme Court of India on Wednesday (30) asked the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to set up guidelines for payment of ex gratia compensation to the kin of those who succumbed to Covid-19, agencies reported.
In its judgement, a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan also asked the NDMA to decide within six weeks ex-gratia amount that can be paid to the near ones of those who died of the virus.
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The apex court’s order came in response to a plea seeking ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh ($5,373) each to the families of the victims of the pandemic. The Centre had said through an affidavit that neither it nor the state governments of India could not afford to pay the amount and had argued in favour of a broader approach, including health interventions.
As per to the affidavit, the ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh is beyond the affordability of the governments and argued that if the same amount is paid to the kin of each victim, it “may possibly” consume the entire amount of the State Disaster Relief Fund, leaving the state governments with insufficient money for organising a response to the pandemic or take care of other disasters.
The top court asked the Centre to consider formulating an insurance scheme for cremation workers as proposed by the Finance Commission. The bench also rejected the Centre’s argument for reading “shall” as “may” in Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act for grant of the ex-gratia amount to victims of the disaster and said the NDMA has failed to carry out its statutory duties.
The court also asked the authorities to issue appropriate guidelines for simplifying the process of issuance of death certificates for the Covid victims.
