SC asks states to roll out scheme to pay Covid ex-gratia within a week

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed states and Union territories to roll out within a week the central scheme of ₹50,000 ex-gratia compensation for families of those whose deaths have been certified as Covid-19 fatalities and added this amount shall be over and above the entitlement of these persons under the financial schemes already provided by Centre, states and UTs.

A bench of justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna said, “The next of the kin of the deceased who died due to Covid-19 shall be paid ex-gratia assistance of an amount of ₹50,000, which shall be treated as ex-gratia payment under Section 12(iii) of the DMA, 2005 and which shall be minimum and which shall be over and above the compensation/amount to be paid by the Union /state governments/ Union territories to be provided under different benevolent schemes.”

The compensation shall not be limited to Covid-19 deaths that have taken place so far but will be available for those in future as well, the court said.

The central scheme was formulated under the Disaster Management Authority Act, 2005 by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) pursuant to the Supreme Court judgment of

June 30. Making the scheme binding upon all states and UTs, the bench held, “The NDMA, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Union of India are directed to issue guidelines to the concerned States and Union Territories incorporating the directions issued hereinabove which shall be binding to all the States/UTs.”

As per the scheme, the amount shall be payable out of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). As a first step, the states/UTs shall identify an officer at the district level within a week to receive applications.

The compensation claim shall be decided within 30 days of receipt of application, the court held.