Covid Victims Entitled to Ex-gratia Compensation and Guidelines to be framed within 6 Weeks: SC
The Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed an obligation on the National Disaster Management Authority to frame the guidelines in regard to minimum Ex-gratia assistance to Covid victims.
Supreme Court in cases of Gaurav Kumar Bansal vs UOI, Reepak Kansal vs UOI gave the abovementioned Judgment. The petitioners were seeking directions to State and Center to provide Ex-gratia compensation worth 4 lakhs to the families of Covid victims. The petitioner also sought directions to the State and Center for the easy issuance of the death certificate of the persons who lost their lives due to covid-19.
The center has opposed the plea by stating that the Govt is facing a financial crisis. The counsel for the petitioner argued that; under section 12 of the ‘Disaster Management Act’ it is the statutory obligation of the Govt to provide relief to the covid-19 victims, which has been declared as a pandemic. The financial crisis cannot be cited as grounds to abstain from performing a statutory obligation.
The Supreme Court held that; it is the statutory obligation of the National Disaster Management Authority to provide guidelines for the compensation to victims of a national disaster and; gave the time of 6 weeks for the same. However, the Authority cannot direct the Govt the amount of compensation to be paid.
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