New Delhi, 3.2.2022, Thursday

COVID-19 compensation: Supreme Court pulls up States for rejecting applications

New Delhi, 3.2.2022, Thursday

The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up States like Maharashtra who rejected applications for COVID-19 compensation merely because they were filed physically and not online.

According to a Bench of Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna, the casual rejection of the "offline" applications made by the bereaved families flies in the teeth of the spirit and intent of the court's order to bring solace to thousands who lost their loved ones to the virus.

The court had ordered ? 50000 compensation to be paid by the State governments to each of the families of those who died of COVID-19.

"All the State governments have to receive applications whether they are filed online or offline... Wherever claims have been rejected for having filed offline, the State to review the application within one week and pay the compensation," it stated.

The court stressed that any "technical glitch" in the applications should not be a reason for the states to reject the applications for compensation. It ordered the States to appoint a dedicated officer not below the rank of deputy secretary in the Chief Minister's Secretariat as the nodal officer in the exercise of granting compensation.

Directive to States

The court said the States should rope in their respective legal services authorities and provide them with full particulars of families whose members died of COVID-19, especially children who have been orphaned by the pandemic. It ordered the governments to provide the information to the legal services authorities. The legal services authorities would in turn reach out to them.

The Bench ordered Maharashtra to give the particulars of the applications it had rejected to the legal services authorities for it to review the grounds of rejection.

The court also took a serious view of a submission by the petitioner, advocate Gaurav Bansal, that media has reported instances of dishonoured compensation cheques when families try to cash them in Karnataka. The court has asked the State counsel to enquire into this allegation.

In the last hearing, the court said that many of these families were economically challenged. They may have been further crippled by the fact that COVID-19 took away their sole breadwinner.

Welfare gesture

The court had said the ex gratia payment of ? 50000 each to the loved ones of every COVID-19 patient is a welfare gesture, and so, essential to a welfare State. Delays and bureaucratic red-tape to release the money or process the application do not augur well. Moreover, applications for compensation ought not to be rejected merely on technical glitches. Every reason for denying a claim should be recorded.