Demand for compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the families of those who died of Corona, Supreme Court asked the Center to decide in 10 days

New Delhi: The Center today told the Supreme Court that the demand for compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the families of those who died of the corona is being sympathetically considered. The decision will be taken soon. The Center also sought time to respond to the demand for recording the exact cause of death in the death certificate. The court, while giving the government 10 days to respond, said for the next hearing on June 21.

On this matter, a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and MR Shah had issued notice to the central government on 24 May. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Center today, told the court that the government is not against this petition. The matter is being looked into with full sympathy. On this, the judges said that some states like Bihar have announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh on their behalf, but most of the states have not decided their policy. On this, Mehta said that the policy will be decided very soon at the central level. It took some time due to the busyness in other matters related to the management of Corona.

The Solicitor General sought two weeks from the court, but the judges said that he wanted to settle the matter during the summer vacation. With this remark, the court directed to put the matter for hearing for 10 days.

Senior advocate SB Upadhyay, appearing for the petitioner, argued for difficulty in getting compensation due to non-recording of the exact cause of death in the death certificate. The counsel for the Center assured him that this aspect is also being looked into. This too will be resolved.

What's the matter?

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of two lawyers Gaurav Kumar Bansal and Ripak Kansal. It has been said that Section 12 of the National Disaster Management Act provides for government compensation for the people who die in the disaster. Last year, the Center had asked all the states to pay Rs 4 lakh as compensation to those who died of the corona. This year it has not been done. The petitioners have also said that the dead are being taken directly from the hospital for the last rites. Neither his postmortem is done, nor is it written in the death certificate that the cause of death was corona. In such a situation, even if the compensation scheme is started, people will not be able to take advantage of it.