Ascertain covid death compensation amount in 6 weeks: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to formulate guidelines for paying ex gratia compensation for the families of those who succumbed to Covid-19, The Indian Express reports.

On Wednesday, a three judge-bench of the apex court headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan also directed NDMA to ascertain the payable amount of compensation in six weeks.

The apex court was hearing a plea seeking four lakhs as ex gratia amount to families whose members succumbed to the pandemic.

The Union Government (UG), in an affidavit, had told the court that public health is a state subject as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, and the states would have to pay the amount. However, the states could not afford four lakhs for each family. Combined State Disaster Relief Fund for 2021-22 for 12 notified disasters for all states amounts to Rs 22,184 crores.

If the states pay the said amount to all the families with a pandemic victim, the states will probably run out of disaster management funds, and a crisis may develop when another disaster needs attention or to handle the ongoing pandemic itself, the Union government told the SC. The UG argued for a broader approach, including health interventions.

To date, 3.98 lakh people have died of the pandemic countrywide.