SC to hear plea seeking Rs 4 lakh ex gratia to kin of people died in COVID tomorrow

The Supreme Court on Monday will hear the petition seeking direction to the authorities concerned to provide compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the family members of the deceased succumbed to COVID-19, as per the Union Home Ministry letter in view of Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

A two-judge vacation bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan and also comprising Justice M R Shah will hear the petitions filed by the lawyer duo -- Reepak Kansal and Gaurav Kumar Bansal.

The lawyer, Reepak Kansal, in his petition, filed before the Supreme Court, sought immediate appropriate directions to the concerned authorities to pay financial help as laid down by the central government in its statute and rules to the family members of the deceased, who succumbed to COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawyer-cum-petitioner, Reepak Kansal said: "It is the right of the family members to know the real cause of death of their family member/relative on any official document," and he cited the ground that "the medical officers have not been conducting post mortem of the persons who are dying due to COVID-19."

Petitioner Reepak Kansal has approached the Supreme Court seeking directions to the respondent States to issue death certificates/ any letter to the families of deceased stating the cause of death.

The plea said that keeping in view the outbreak of COVID-19 in India and the declaration of the disease as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO), by way of special one time dispensation, it has been decided to treat it as notified disaster for the purpose of providing assistance under SDRF.

The central government issued revised list and norms of assistance from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) through its MHA letter and recommended an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh per deceased person, Kansal claimed in his petition filed before the apex court.

The petitioner also sought the issuance of direction to respondents, respective state governments, to fulfill their obligation to take care of victims of the calamity and their family members.

Kansal sought the top court's intervention and appropriate direction to the respondent state governments to issue an official document stating the cause of death, to the family members of the deceased who died due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

( With inputs from ANI )

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