Government Must Pay Ex Gratia To Kin Of Covid-19 Victims: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The government was bound to pay ex gratia to the next of kin of all those who died of Covid-19, the Supreme Court has said.

It rejected the Centre’s plea to declare Section 12 of the National Disaster Management Act as nonmandatory and absolve the government of any duty to pay ex gratia to kin of Covid-19 victims.

However, the court left the amount to be decided as per fresh guidelines to be framed by the National Disaster Management Authority while giving it six weeks to draw up the guidelines.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and MR Shah on Wednesday also directed the government to ensure that death certificates clearly stated that a person died from Covid-19 to allow his family members to claim the benefit.

There should also be a grievance redress mechanism to correct mistakes in the death certificates, the court said.

The court was clear that it cannot fix a particular quantum to be paid.

“What amount to be paid by way of ex gratia assistance to the family members of the person who dies from Covid-19 should be left to the central government/National Disaster Management Authority,” the court said.

The Centre had refused to pay ₹4 lakh for every Covid-19 victim’s kin on the ground that it would be a huge strain on the resources of the central and state governments.

It had instead said it had taken a conscious decision to create infrastructure and augment hospitals, testing and vaccination.

The NDMA was duty-bound to provide for norms for payment of such ex gratia while laying down policy to grant relief to the Covid-19 affected, the SC said.

The guidelines may account for the financial crunch faced by governments due to the pandemic, it said.

The SC also said states were free to pay their own ex gratia over and above any amount granted to the affected from the state disaster relief fund.

It noted the amounts paid by different states on account of ex gratia differed hugely, with Karnataka paying ₹1 lakh, Delhi ₹50,000 and Bihar ₹4 lakh.

Central guidelines would rationalise such amounts, it said.

The order came on a petition filed by Reepak Kansal seeking ₹4 lakh ex gratia in every Covid-19 case. The case was argued by advocate Gaurav Bansal.

“The impact and effect of the present pandemic/disaster would be different from other disasters… There shall not be any justification to provide for the similar amount by way of ex gratia assistance as provided in the case of other disasters, i.e. ₹4 lakh,” the SC said.