The Supreme Court passed the guidelines in its June 30 order entitling people who died due to COVID-19 to grant a compensation amount under the Disaster Management Act 2005.
The Supreme Court had granted Centre six weeks to finalize the amount. Moreover, on the Centre’s request the time was increased by two weeks on August 16.
On Friday, the Supreme Court gave the Centre the deadline of September 11 to issue the certificates of death for COVID. And for framing a national insurance scheme for disaster-related deaths.
Earlier, the Supreme Court has given directions in its June 30 order. The Centre is entitled to grant ex-gratia amount for the people who lost their lives due to COVID-19.
Representing the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta requested an additional week to file the response for the government. To this, the bench of justices, including MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose said,” By the time you will take steps, even the third wave (of COVID-19) pandemic will be over.”
It is quite some time that the Supreme Court passed orders for making corrections in the death certificates. The Centre has agreed to file a response within the given timeframe. But, then Centre wants a time extension. So, the Supreme Court will grant the Centre the last opportunity.
The Supreme Court stated that the last date to file the affidavit was September 11. Following which the hearing will take place on September 13.
According to Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, who filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the June 30 order. He stated that it is very unfortunate that the Centre is delaying compliance.
An intervention application is by filed by those entitled to get benefit from the scheme. They stated that the last date for framing the scheme was September 8.
To this, the bench replied that it is up to the Centre to comply with our orders.
Accordingly, if a person is killed in a declared disaster a compensation of Rs 4 lakh is given. However, for the pandemic, the court did not fix the amount. But, it left the jurisdiction to the National Disaster Management Authority of India.
The Supreme Court issued two guidelines. First, to state the exact cause of the death as a death caused due to COVID-19. Also, such guidelines will have to consider people who died within two to three months of being COVID positive.
Second, the Supreme Court also gave the Centre the directions to generate a process in order to correct the death certificates that are already issued.
Furthermore, the court directed the Centre to provide a National Insurance Scheme for disaster-related deaths. The finance commission thinks that such a scheme will provide social security. As well as it will not increase the burden on the government.
Also Read:
Big Boss Season 13 Winner, Actor Sidharth Shukla passed away due to a heart attack
Strict And Compulsory RT-PCR Test: New Strain Of Covid-19 C.1.2.
Kerala High Court: Father’s details not required for IVF born child
2 Comments