New Delhi, Dec 6 : The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Maharashtra and West Bengal governments for an abysmally low number of applications for compensation of Rs 50,000 ex-gratia to next of kin of Covid victims.
A bench of Justices M.R.B.V.Nagarathna and Shah told the Maharashtra government counsel more than 1 lakh deaths took place in the state and that there are so few families seeking compensation.
“This is absurd.we may have to put restrictions against you,” the bench warned during hearing.
The bench also questioned the West Bengal government counsel about the disbursement compensation to Covid victim family families.He stated that Covid was responsible for over 19,000 deaths and that the state government has paid compensation to 110.
“Only if we compel your to work, will it work?”, the bench asked counsel.the bench told counsel.
The Maharashtra government informed the top court that it has received nearly 35,000 applications for Covid compensation and nearly one lakh people have made their user-id on the designated website.The court asked both states to submit their compliance affidavits by December 15.The court also pulled up two additional state governments because of the low number of claims for compensation from Covid victims families despite such high death rates.
The court questioned why so few people have applied for compensation and stressed the importance of spreading the word about the compensation scheme via TV, radio, newspapers, etc .,
The Supreme Court had approved Rs 50,000 ex-gratia to the kin members of Covid victims as recommended by the National Disaster Management Authority.Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal moved for the order.
In the previous hearing, the top court had issued notice to several states over the abysmally low disbursal rate of Covid compensation.
On November 29, the Supreme Court expressed concern at state governments grappling with various issues in connection with Rs 50,000 ex-gratia distribution.
The top court directed the Chief Secretaries of various state governments to furnish full particulars to the Union of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Disaster Management Authority, and had scheduled the matter for further hearing on December 6.
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