How Supreme Court's Interventions Led To Increase In Claims For COVID-19 Death Compensation?

The intervention of the Supreme Court has resulted in a massive increase in the number of applications being filed before State Governments seeking compensation for deaths due to COVID-19.On October 4, 2021, the Court had directed that no state should deny the ex-gratia compensation of Rs 50,000 to the kin of persons who died of COVID on the sole ground that the death certificate does not mention COVID as the cause of death. Based on the expert guidelines, the Court noted that deaths occurring in a hospital after the patient was admitted due to COVID and any death occurring outside a hospital after the person tested COVID positive should be treated as "deaths due to COVID".In the case Gaurav Kumar Bansal versus Union of India, a bench comprising Justice MR Shah and Justice AS Bopanna thus expanded the scope of determination as under - "i) Covid-19 cases, for the purpose of considering the deaths of the deceased due to Covid-19, are those which are diagnosed through a positive RT-PCR/Molecular Tests/RAT or clinically determined through investigations in a hospital/in-patient facility by a treating physician, while admitted in the hospital/in-patient facility; ii) that the deaths occurring within 30 days from the date of testing or from the date of being clinically determined as a Covid-19 case shall be treated as "Deaths due to Covid-19", even if the death takes place outside the hospital/in-patient facility; iii) also, the Covid-19 case while admitted in the hospital/in-patient facility and who continued to be admitted beyond 30 days and died subsequently shall also be treated as a Covid-19 death; iv) Covid-19 cases which are not resolved and have died either in the hospital settings or at home, and where a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) in Form 4 & 4A has been issued to the registering authority, as required under Section 10 of the Registration of Birth & Death (RBD) Act, 1969, shall also be treated as Covid-19 death. However, it is observed and made clear that irrespective of the cause of death mentioned in the death certificate, if a family member satisfies the eligibility criteria mentioned in paragraphs 11(i) to 11(iv) as above shall also be entitled to the ex-gratia payment of Rs. 50,000/- on production of requisite documents as observed hereinabove, and no State shall deny the ex-gratia payment of Rs. 50,000/- on the ground that in the death certificate the cause of death is not mentioned as "Died due to Covid-19";" The Court also raised concerns regarding the Centre's guidelines not considering the deaths occurring due to suicide as COVID-19 deaths even if COVID-19 was an accompanying condition. Following the concerns expressed by the Bench, the Centre revised its eligibility criteria to include kins/family members of COVID patients who committed suicide. Taking note of this, the Court directed :"a family member of the deceased who committed suicide within 30 days from being diagnosed as Covid-19 positive shall also be entitled to avail the financial help/ex-gratia assistance of Rs. 50,000/- as granted under the SDRF in accordance with the guidelines dated 11.09.2021 issued by the NDMA under Section 12(iii) of DMA, 2005, as directed hereinabove;" Therefore, the Supreme Court's intervention has, in essence, enlarged the eligibility criteria to include kins/family members of those deceased persons who were otherwise found to be ineligible as per the official records of the State Governments/Union Territories. Also, the Court passed strict directions to the States to give wide publicity to the COVID death compensation schemes and made timely interventions when there were attempts to impose onerous conditions for the claim process.The Court expected that armed with the revised criteria, the State Government would witness an increase in the number of claims. However, to its utter dismay, the same did not fructify and the Apex Court, on 29.11.2021, asked the State Governments to widely publicise the compensation scheme. It also directed the State Governments/Union Territories to furnish to the Central Government particulars related to the claims and disbursal of the ex-gratia compensation. The Court's efforts have borne results. For example, the State of Gujarat had received 91,810 claims/applications (till 18th Jan), which is over nine times the official record of only about 10,094 COVID-19 deaths. In Telangana, the official record showed only 3993 deaths whereas the number of applications received was 28,969 - an increase of over 600%. Moreover, Andhra Pradesh had received 36,205 claims (till 19th Jan), when the official record reflected 14,471 COVID-19 deaths (nearly 200% increase); Maharashtra had received 2,17,151 claims (till 18th Jan) when the official record reflected 1,41,737. As per the latest data (as on 16.01.2022) made available to the Court, nine States (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,...

How Supreme Court's Interventions Led To Increase In Claims For COVID-19 Death Compensation?

Sohini Chowdhury

One can witness the Court's active role in monitoring the COVID compensation disbursement process giving positive results to provide succour to the victims of the pandemic.

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