Rs 4 lakh compensation cannot be paid to all those who died due to Covid-19 as it would exhaust the disaster relief funds, the centre has told SC.
Rs 4 lakh compensation cannot be paid to all those who died due to Covid-19 as it would exhaust the disaster relief funds, the centre has told the Supreme Court.
A PIL had sought “minimum standards of relief” and ex-gratia payment to Covid-19 deceased, in response to which the centre submitted its affidavit in the court.
The Centre has said that compensation of Rs 4 lakh cannot be paid to victims of Covid-19 as the disaster management law mandating compensation applies only to natural disasters like earthquake, floods etc.
According to the official Covid-19 figures released by the health ministry, nearly 4 lakh people have died in India since the beginning of the pandemic.
“If ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh is given for every person who loses life due to Covid-19, the entire amount of SDRF may possibly be spent on this item alone, and indeed the total expenditure may go up further,” the centre said.
“If the entire SDRF funds get consumed on ex-gratia for Covid-19 victims, the States may not have sufficient funds for organizing Covid-19 response, for provision of various essential medical and other supplies, or to take care of other disasters like cyclones, floods, etc. Hence, the prayer of the petitioner for payment of ex-gratia to all deceased persons due to Covid-19, is beyond the fiscal affordability of the State governments,” it added.
Covid is an ongoing scenario and minimum standards of relief and compensation differ in this case from other types of disasters, the government said in its response.
The government also said that insurance claims are being processed by the District Collectors and forwarded to the insurance company for release of funds to the claimants. It added that Rs 442.4 crore has been released to the insurance companies.
In 2019-20, additional funds Rs 1,113.21 crore were released to the States/UTs towards management and containment of Covid-19 over under the National Health Mission, the centre further informed the top court.
“Rs 8,257.89 crore have been released to the States/UTs under the India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package through NHM,” said the government.
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