The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed its displeasure at the states for their laxity in providing compensation to family members of those who died of Covid -19.
The bench of Justice Vineet Saran, Justice R. Subhash Reddy and Justice M.R. Shah was hearing a matter with regard to the compensation to be provided to families who have lost their family members in the pandemic. During the hearing in the Supreme Court, Justice Shah reprimanded many states, including Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal.
At the same time, the court has asked the states which have not yet made the online portal for data on the Covid deceased, to create a specific portal related to compensation and to give information to the people using on TV and radio to promote it.
The bench reprimanded the Maharashtra government and said they haven’t yet released compensation to anyone and this was not acceptable. The court also said the Maharashtra government should start paying compensation immediately; otherwise the court will have to act strictly.
While there were about 9,000 deaths due to corona in Rajasthan, 595 applications were received for compensation but no compensation has been given to anyone yet. The court also asked the Rajasthan government to adopt a humanitarian approach in giving compensation to the relatives of the Covid deceased.
The counsel for West Bengal apprised the court that the death toll in the state is more than 19,000. While only 467 applications have been received for compensation, 110 people have been given the solatium. Apart from this, 22,000 deaths have occurred in Uttar Pradesh. With 16,518 families having applied for compensation, the state has disbursed compensation to 9,372 families.
The matter has now been listed on December 10 for further hearing.