COVID-19 death compensation: SC fixes timelines for filing of claims
The Centre announced on Monday the Supreme Court has set certain timelines for the submission of claims for the ex gratia compensation of COVID-19 deaths by affected families. According to an SC order dated March 24, claims for such deaths that occurred before March 20 must be filed within 60 days, while for any future deaths, the same must be submitted within 90 days.
Notably, last month, the Supreme Court had stated that the existing four-week deadline proposed by the Centre for filing the claims may not be adequate because the family members of the deceased may be distressed owing to their loss. Meanwhile, a previous order—according to which the processing of claims and payment of compensation must be completed within 30 days of the receipt—remains in effect.
Fixing the timelines, the court also noted that if a claimant isn't able to submit the application within the given time due to extreme hardship, they may approach the Grievance Redressal Committee. It said such individuals could file claims through the Committee that will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. It also ordered random scrutiny of 5% of the applications to curb fraudulent claims.
The SC also ruled the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) shall be in charge of determining the extent of false ex gratia COVID-19 death compensation claims. It noted the NDMA is empowered to do so under the 2005 Disaster Management (DM) Act. If it is found that someone has made a fake claim, they will be prosecuted under Section 52 of the DM Act.
On the other hand, India reported over 800 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, a decline of nearly 200 cases from the previous day. The country's active caseload currently stands at 11,058, accounting for 0.03% of the total cases so far. In the past 24 hours, a total of 861 new cases and six fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 recovery rate stood at 98.76%.
