The Supreme Court on Friday questioned Kerala, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan governments over the slow rate of disbursal of compensation of Rs 50,000 ex-gratia to next of kin of Covid victims.
A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna noted that Maharashtra has recorded more than 1.41 lakh Covid deaths, but the state government has received merely 12,000 applications in connection with Covid compensation.
The bench pulled up the Maharashtra government counsel, saying that the number of deaths will be more.
“Tell your government whatever we say should not fall on deaf ears," the bench told the state counsel.
The bench noted that out of 1.41 lakh deaths, the state government has only approved approximately 4,000 claims for Covid compensation. The court directed the Maharashtra government to complete the ex gratia payment within one week.
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The bench also voiced its dissatisfaction with the Rajasthan government’s failure to submit data on various counts, including no information on number of persons to whom compensation has been paid so far.
“How come the state still doesn't even have the figures of the number of persons who have applied for compensation or any other data," the bench asked.
The bench wondered if the Rajasthan government is suppressing something.
The bench said how could the state government, which has so far recorded close to 9,000 Covid deaths, disburse compensation without data on applications received. It pointed out that the state government has also not provided any information on advertisements issued in this regard.
The bench also pulled up the Kerala government, which has recorded 40,855 Covid deaths so far but received claims for just over 10,000, saying “it is a sorry state of affairs”. The court said the state government has only paid Covid compensation to 528 and approved over 1,900 applications for Covid claim.
The bench said as a welfare state, it is the duty of the state to make payment of compensation to the next of kin of those who succumbed to the pandemic. The top court asked the Kerala government to complete the Covid compensation payment within one week.
The court was examining the compliance of its October 4 judgement for disbursal of Rs 50,000 ex-gratia to the kin of Covid victims.
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