Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Maharashtra government, through an interim order, to consider applications for ex-gratia claims made by the kin of Covid-19 victims only. Do not keep pending as they have not been filed online.
Along with this interim order, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipankar Dutt directed the Maharashtra government, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the central government to file their replies on the PIL. In this petition, a request has been made to direct the state government to pay the ex-gratia amount also to those people who have filed applications directly or by post instead of through the online portal of the state government. Maharashtra government’s counsel Purnima Kantharia told the court that the state had received a total of 114 applications for payment of ex-gratia amount either directly or by post in Mumbai suburban and city areas and out of these 54 applicants were received by the authorities for assistance in the online process. contacted for. He said that these applications are now pending with the BMC.
Kantharia said that the state was unable to trace the whereabouts of 14 applicants and, therefore, was unable to assist them through the online mode of applying. The court asked Kantharia whether the state government was ready to make a statement that it would not reject an application just because someone had applied in physical form. Kantharia, however, said that the online portal has been created by the Maharashtra government as per an order of the Supreme Court and is for the benefit of the applicants.
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He further said that the state government is ready to provide necessary assistance to those people who were not comfortable with the online application system. Petitioner’s counsel, Sumedha Rao, told the court that many of those claiming such ex-gratia payments were slum-dwellers or poor people, who were not comfortable filing claims online and attaching documents. Rao said, “The Supreme Court also said that the ex-gratia should be paid within 30 days of applying for it. Around 50 people had directly applied for payments from across Maharashtra between October and November last year before the portal was created.
He said that these applications have been accepted by the concerned collector, but the payment has not been made to the claimants yet. “There was a delay in making the portal. Don’t let the state delay the payment for those who physically applied before the portal is made.” Kantharia, however, argued that the petitioners should not insist on accepting the application outright, as the online process was easier and it was a convenient and more streamlined method.
The court then directed all the respondents to file replies and said that through the interim measure, those who had applied in physical form should be assisted by the state authorities to apply online. The court also said that “serious steps” should be taken by the state to help the applicants. “However, if they are not in a position to apply online, then do not keep their applications pending on the basis of online applications,” the court said. The court will further hear this PIL on February 14. (agency)