The Supreme Court wondered on Monday why only a few of those who lost their loved ones to COVID-19 have come so far to claim the ₹50000 ex gratia compensation.
A Bench led by Justice M.R. Shah asked the Chief Secretaries of States to furnish the Centre with answers to a series of eight questions raised by the court. They include the number of deaths recorded in each State, the number of claims received by them individually, the compensation paid so far, and whether grievance redressal committee in each district had been constituted.
The court also asked the States if online portals for disbursal of compensation have been created or not.
It approved the revised and simplified model of disbursement of compensation adopted by the Gujarat government and said the same model could be applied across the country
During the hearing, the court noted that some of the States had not furnished any particulars to the Centre regarding the disbursement of the ex gratia. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, UTs of Chandigarh, J&K and Ladakh had not provided information to the Union government, “though specifically asked by Union of India pursuant to our order”, the Supreme Court said.
On November 22, the Supreme Court had ordered the Centre to “gather information” from States on the progress made in the disbursement of ex gratia compensation of ₹50000 to the kin of patients who died of COVID-19. The Union had sought time till November 29.
The court had also sought information on the headway made so far by States in constituting grievance redressal committees to hear complaints made by families regarding payment of the compensation.
