Compensation to COVID victims: Supreme Court asks Centre to frame guidelines in six weeks
New Delhi : Supreme Court on Wednesday morning ordered Centre to frame the guidelines over compensation to coronavirus victims within six weeks.
Noting it was not within its ambit to decide on compensation rules or amount, the court criticised the NDMA - the agency responsible for such details - for failing to discharge its duty, and said it was bound to give "minimum standards of relief, which includes ex-gratia assistance".
"We direct NDMA to form guidelines for ex-gratia compensation for family members of persons who succumbed to Covid, as per minimum standards of relief," a two-member bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, who retires on July 4, and MR Shah said in what will come as huge relief for victims' families.
"What reasonable amount is to be provided is left to the wisdom of the authority," the judges said, suggesting that the amount could be fixed keeping in the mind funds and resources available.
According to disaster management act, "minimum standard relief", including the payment of financial assistance is mandatory and not discriminatory.
The centre argued that as per Section 12 of the DMA the word "shall" should be construed as "may", meaning it is not mandatory to provide compensation.
The court’s order was in response to a plea seeking compensation of up to Rs 4 lakh to the family of deceased due to coronavirus.
A month ago, the Centre had notified that the compensation cannot be given as it is applied only in the case of natural disaster. They had also said that providing Rs 4 lakh as compensation will not be possible.
