Ex-gratia: SC pulls up Guj for issuing notification contrary to directions

An attempt has been made to "overreach" the directions issued by the apex court, a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna said

The Supreme Court Thursday pulled up the Gujarat government for issuing a notification which is "just contrary" to the directions given regarding ex-gratia to the next of kin of those who died due to COVID-19 and said an attempt has been made to "overreach" the directions issued by the apex court.

The top court had on October 4 said that no state shall deny the ex-gratia compensation of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of the deceased due to COVID-19 solely on the ground that the death certificate does not mention the virus as the cause of death.

The court had also said that the ex-gratia is to be disbursed within 30 days from the date of applying to the concerned district disaster management authority or the district administration along with the proof of the death of the deceased due to coronavirus and the cause of death being certified as died due to COVID-19".

 

The matter came up for hearing on Thursday before a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna.

"Having gone through the notification dated October 29, 2021, we feel that the same is just contrary to the directions issued by this court in an order dated October 4, 2021. It appears that an attempt has been made to overreach the directions issued by this court," the bench said in its order.

The bench was hearing an application seeking quashing of the October 29 resolution issued by the health and family welfare department of the Gujarat government forming a COVID-19 death ascertaining committee'.

The top court said that its directions for payment of compensation to the family members of the persons, who died due to COVID-19, are very clear and there was no requirement at all of constituting the scrutiny committee to award compensation.

The direction was to constitute the grievance redressal committee in case the compensation is not paid and the family members are aggrieved and/or they are aggrieved with regard to the death certificate issued. There was no direction at all for the purpose of constituting a scrutiny committee for the purpose of issuing the certificate for getting the compensation, it said.

The bench said it was very much made clear that even in a case, wherein the death certificate the cause is not shown as death due to COVID-19 but if found that deceased was declared positive for coronavirus and has died within 30 days, automatically his or her family members are entitled to the compensation without any further conditions.

No further condition and/or requirement is provided. Still, such a notification has been issued without application of mind which can be said to be over-reaching the directions issued by this court, it said.

The bench said even the procedure for compensation should be simplified and the form should be very simple and not clumsy.

The apex court said that copy of the application be given to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who will file a response to it.

The bench has posted the matter for hearing on November 22, to enable Mehta to take remedial steps and come out with a clear and simplified formula or notification so that the amount of compensation as ordered by the apex court is paid at the earliest and without any further harassment.

The bench said the notification must be in accordance with the directions issued by the court on October 4.

Any deviation shall be viewed very seriously, it said.

In its October 4 order, the apex court had also said that a family member of the deceased, who committed suicide within 30 days from being diagnosed as COVID-19 positive, shall also be entitled to avail the financial help/ex-gratia assistance of Rs 50,000 as granted under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) under the guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

In its affidavit filed earlier in the top court on pleas filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal and some intervenors seeking ex-gratia assistance to family members of COVID-19 victims, the Centre had said the NDMA has already started discussions/consultations on the recommendation of the 15th Finance Commission regarding insurance intervention.