Congress demands ₹5 lakh ex-gratia to kin of COVID-19 victims; doubts official death toll

After the Centre informed the Supreme Court that Rs.50,000 will be given to the kin of COVID-19 victims, the Congress party disapproved of the compensation amount. The National Disaster Management Authority also recommended that the ex-gratia will be paid to those who were involved in the novel coronavirus relief operations or activities associated with the preparedness for dealing with the pandemic. Most importantly, the Union government clarified that the financial assistance shall be provided by the states from the State Disaster Response Fund.

Addressing a press briefing on Thursday, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate demanded a compensation of Rs.5 lakh for the kin of each COVID-19 victim. Maintaining that this is not a difficult task, she observed, "The government had earned Rs.4 lakh crore last year only from excise duty on fuel. If we give Rs.5 lakh to 4.5 lakh families, it amounts to merely Rs.22,000 crore which is just 5.5% of the total amount".

Describing the compensation of Rs.50,000 as a "dirty joke", Shrinate added, "The tally of 4.5 lakh deaths is very low and is much more than that. The Centre has also accepted its failure which is evident from the overhaul of the Health Ministry". Moreover, she called upon the Union government to stop suppressing the number of COVID-19 deaths and conduct a fresh survey to estimate the real casualty toll.

SC's directives on compensation

A division bench of the SC comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and MR Shah on June 30 directed the Centre to frame guidelines for the payment of ex-gratia to the kin of COVID-19 victims. It held that the National Disaster Management Authority has failed in discharging its duty by not prescribing guidelines under Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act. At the same time, the bench took into account the fact that the government had its own priorities such as providing food and shelter to the migrants and managing the impact of the pandemic on the economy.

The SC said, "No country has unlimited resources. Dispensation of the same is based on a number of circumstances, facts, law. Therefore, we don’t think it is proper to direct the Union to pay a particular amount. This is to be fixed by the government. Ultimately, the priorities are also to be fixed by the government". The NDMA was given the freedom to fix the compensation amount based on various factors including the availability of funds under NDRF, SDRF and other priorities.

Moreover, the bench also ruled in favour of simplified guidelines for the issuance of death certificates. While the Centre framed detailed guidelines for the issuance of death certificates, the SC asked it to reconsider the clause which states that deaths occurring due to poisoning, suicide, homicide and accident, among others, will not be considered as COVID-19 deaths even if the infection is an accompanying condition. At present, India has recorded 4,46,050 COVID-19 deaths.