COVID-19 Death Compensation : Supreme Court Directs States To Not Reject Claims on Technical Grounds

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court directed the States not to reject applications/claims of the kin/family members of persons who have succumbed to COVID-19 on technical grounds. The Apex Court further noted that wherever applications are rejected the States are duty bound to communicate the reason for the same to the concerned claimant and provide them opportunity for rectifying the application. On perusal of the chart placed on record by the Union of India, a Bench comprising Justices M.R.Shah and Sanjiv Khanna observed that several States have rejected a number of claims received. For eg. Gujarat had rejected 4234 claims; Maharashtra 49113; Tamil Nadu 10138, Telangana 1489. The Bench directed the States to furnish the particulars of rejection to the concerned claimant as well as the Grievance Redressal Committee constituted by the Apex Court within a period of one week.Also during the course of the hearing, it came to the notice of the Bench that some States have rejected claims. The Bench pulled up the States of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh for non-compliance of its previous orders. While passing directions, it had categorically cautioned the two States from rejecting claims on technical grounds.The bench was considering the case Gaurav Kumar Bansal versus Union of India, in which it is monitoring the disbursal of ex-gratia for COVID-19 deaths. Earlier, the bench had directed the States to give wide publicity to the application process in print, electronic and social media so that the families of victims are made aware of the compensation scheme.The Supreme Court has approved the compensation amount of Rs 50,000 for COVID deaths as recommended by the National Disaster Management Authority. Chandigarh Upon hearing that Chandigarh administration had received 524 applications out of which 379 would be disbursed within a week, the Bench insisted the Union Territory to expedite the process and make the payment by tomorrow. Haryana The Bench was apprised that in Haryana the officers were physically visiting the eligible claimants as per the death record maintained by the State. So far 7350 applications have been received and payment has already been made to 6385 applicants. In some cases the payment has been reverted by the Bank, which the State is attempting to resolve. Some claimants have expressed their disinterest and some claimants could not be traced physically. Gujarat Senior Advocate, Ms. Manisha Luvkumar appearing for the State of Gujarat informed the Bench that as per data received by her yesterday, 91810 applications have been received; 59885 applicants have been paid; direct payment is pending for 11,000, which would be done in the next three days; 5161 applicants have been rejected; 15282 applications are under process, which will be completed within a week. The Bench enquired, "What are the reasons for rejection?" Unaware of the same, Ms. Luvkumar assured the Court that she would get the requisite information shortly. Justice Khanna asked Ms. Luvkumar about the mechanism followed by the State once the application is rejected. "When you reject, you put it on the website, the reasons for rejection?" Ms. Luvkumar responded saying once the application was rejected the concerned applicant had the right to approach the Appellate Committee. Rephrasing his query, Justice Khanna asked "Do you inform that person why their application has been rejected?" Ms. Luvkumar assured the Bench that during the course of the day she would place on record a specimen of the rejection letter/document sent to the applicant. The Bench lauded the State of Gujarat for receiving approximately 91,000 applications when the death recorded in the State was about 10,000. It opined that the same was possible because of the wide publicity given to the scheme by the State. Kerala Advocate, Mr. Nishe Rajan Shonker appearing on behalf of the State of Kerala submitted that they had received 27,274 applications as on 05.01.2022 and have disbursed payment for 23,652 applicants. The Bench noted that the registered deaths were substantially higher that the applications received - "49300 are already registered with you. Particulars are with you. In other states the applications received are more than death registered. So far you are concerned it is the reverse. Why?...So far as these 49000 are concerned their particulars are with you, so your officers should go to them…They must be paid compensation immediately." Observing the number of recorded deaths surpasses the number of applications, the Bench directed the State to take immediate action for the 49300 claimants whose records were already available with the State. "So far as the State of Kerala is concerned against registered deaths of 49,300 the state has received 27274 claims of which 23652 claims have been sanctioned and paid. As ordered earlier when the particulars...

COVID-19 Death Compensation : Supreme Court Directs States To Not Reject Claims on Technical Grounds

Sohini Chowdhury

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