Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 30: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the government must pay compensation to the family of those who succumbed to Covid-19 but said the court could not fix the amount of compensation which should be left to the centre to decide.
The apex court ordered the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to frame guidelines for payment of ex gratia compensation to family members of persons who succumbed to Cvid-19 in the country.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, in its judgement, also directed the NDMA to ascertain within 6 weeks ex-gratia amount that can be paid to the family members of those who died due to the infection.
The court’s order came in response to a plea seeking ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the families of all those who succumbed to the virus. A few days ago, the centre had submitted an affidavit that that state governments cannot afford to pay Rs four lakhs as compensation to the next of kin of each victim as it would exhaust the disaster relief funds and had argued in favour of a broader approach including health interventions.
The centre had submitted that ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh is beyond the affordability of state governments and argued that if Rs 4 lakh is paid to the kin of each, it “may possibly” consume the entire amount of the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF), leaving states with insufficient funds for organising a response to the pandemic or to take care of other disasters.
The government pointed out that public health was a state subject under the 7th Schedule of the Constitution and that the combined 2021-22 funds for 12 notified disasters for SDRFs for all states is Rs 22,184 crore.
Till date, 3.98 lakh people have succumbed to the infection, the Health Ministry data shows.
Accepting the government’s argument, the Supreme Court said the NDMA should create minimum standards for relief so that some amount of compensation can be paid.
The Supreme Court also directed the NDMA to issue guidelines for proper death certificates which specify the cause of death as Covid-19. Some guidelines will also be created to correct certificates that have already been issued.
The Supreme Court said the NDMA failed to do its statutory duty to prescribe minimum standards.
“We gave considered the relevant provisions of the Disaster Management Act. The word used “shall” under the Disaster Management Act is mandatory…There’s nothing on record to show that any such guidelines have been issued by the NDMA. It is a mandatory statutory duty of the NDMA to prescribe minimum standards of relief plus ex gratia compensation. It can be said that the national authority has failed to do its duty. The question is whether the court can direct the government to pay a particular ex gratia amount of 4 lakh. We have discussed the scope of judicial review,” the Supreme Court bench said while hearing pleas for compensation to Covid-19 victims.
“The government has to decide its priorities and reliefs. It has to provide healthcare, food and shelter. It has to take care of the economy,” the Supreme Court said.
“Ex gratia compensation will have financial implications. No state or country has unlimited financial resources. It is not appropriate for this court to direct payment of the particular amount of 4 lakh. Priority is to be fixed by the government,” the Supreme Court said.
Ruling in the Centre’s favour, the Supreme Court directed the NDMA to create guidelines for ex gratia assistance to the families of persons affected by Covid-19.
“Depending on financial capacity, funds required for preparation, healthcare, recovery etc, NDMA, Registrar of deaths to issue guidelines for proper death certificates which specify cause of death as Covid-19,” the Supreme Court said.
The Centre had then told the Supreme Court 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.
“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,” said the Centre had 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,” the Centre had told the Supreme Court.
However, while the centre considered paying compensation of Rs four lakhs to the next of kin of each Covid-19 victim beyond the reach of the state government, the JD(U)-BJP combined government in Bihar, however, claimed that it was already paying Rs four lakh as compensation to each Covid victim in the state.
The Bihar health minister told the media that the compensation decision was taken by the state government during the first Covid wave itself when the amount was paid from the chief minister’s relief fund but subsequently it was decided that the disaster management department would transfer the necessary fund to the health ministry which would make the payments to the family members of the Covid victims.