Following the Supreme Court's order, the Union Government has rushed central teams to Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh for random scrutiny of claims filed for COVID-19 ex-gratia compensation in these States, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday.
This is in pursuance of the Supreme Court's order dated March 24, 2022, passed in the Miscellaneous Application No. 1805 of 2021 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 539 of 2021, the ministry said in a statement.
Three-member teams are being sent to the four states.
The ministry said that the deployed teams shall examine the on-field implementation of the ex-gratia being paid as per the directions of the Supreme Court and guidelines issued by NDMA. They shall undertake random scrutiny of 5 per cent claims applications filed for payment of ex-gratia assistance. The teams shall also ascertain the process followed for payment of ex-gratia, and examine the details of cases that were approved or rejected including documentation/verification undertaken for the same by the district authorities.
"In the light of the order of Supreme Court dated March 24, 2022, it is emphasized that making of a false claim and/or submitting a false certificate to avail of the ex-gratia compensation is liable to be punished under Section 52 of Disaster Management Act, 2005," the Union Health Ministry noted.
As directed by the Supreme Court in its order, the State Governments shall assist these teams in carrying out the scrutiny of the claim applications and submit all the necessary particulars of the respective claims that have been attended/processed to the Teams, which shall carry out the scrutiny and submit the report to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The report shall be submitted before the Supreme Court.
The three-member team to Maharashtra will be led by Dr Sunil Gupta, Principal Consultant, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Dr P Ravindran, Advisor, MoHFW, Calicut will lead the team to Kerala, while Dr S Venkatesh, Principal Advisor, NCDC is heading the Gujarat team. The three-member team to Andhra Pradesh will be headed by Dr S K Singh, Director, NCDC.
( With inputs from ANI )
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