New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed displeasure over the state governments for not paying compensation to the kin of the deceased in cases of death due to COVID-19 and issued a show cause notice to the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh asking whether Why not initiate contempt action against them.
The apex court directed the chief secretaries of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar governments to appear online at 2 pm on Wednesday and explain why the disbursement of ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin in cases of death due to COVID-19 fell short in their states. Is. A bench of Justices MR Shah and Sanjiv Khanna said it would pronounce the order at 2 pm. The bench asked the state legal services authorities to contact the families of those who lost their lives due to COVID-19 and to register and distribute compensation claims in the same manner as was done during the 2001 Gujarat earthquake.
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The top court said that it rejects the figures given by Bihar on the death toll from COVID-19 and these figures are not real but official. The bench told the counsel appearing for the Bihar government, “We cannot believe that only 12,000 people died due to COVID in the state of Bihar. We want your Chief Secretary to appear here digitally at 2 o’clock.
The top court was hearing the petitions of advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal and others, seeking financial assistance to the families of those killed by the COVID-19. The apex court had on December 13 last year expressed unhappiness over the lack of wide publicity about the portal meant for disbursement of ex-gratia amount in cases of death due to COVID-19.
The bench had said that unless wide publicity is given, people will not be able to know about the portal on which they can apply online. The top court had observed that some states did not give wide publicity by giving full details regarding the portal in newspapers especially in local language newspapers and advertisements in local channels.
The Supreme Court had on November 18 expressed displeasure with the Gujarat government for issuing a notification contrary to its directions regarding giving ex-gratia to the kin of those who lost their lives due to COVID-19. The apex court had on October 4 said that no government will refuse compensation of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of a person who died of COVID-19 on the ground that the cause of the death certificate does not mention the virus.
The court had also said that the ex-gratia amount within 30 days from the date of application along with the certificate of death due to corona virus and the cause ‘death due to COVID-19’ to the concerned District Disaster Management Authority or the district administration. has to be given. (agency)