Supreme Court raps states for delay in forming Covid aid portals
Hindustan TimesTwo months since ex gratia payments were made mandatory for the families of those who died due to Covid-19, several states are yet to set up portals to receive applications, while some are still finding out who constitute the “next of kin” to whom the ₹50,000 compensation can be given, according to a status report submitted to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court bench said that there was no uniformity in the practices adopted by states and UTs in implementing its order. Taking up the report in a petition filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal – which led to the October 4 order making ex-gratia payments mandatory – a bench of justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna said: “From the aforesaid it can be presumed either no wide publicity has been given by the concerned states or UTs with regard to the compensation offered for death of a person who had died due to Covid-19 or the concerned claimant is not made aware where to apply.” The bench listed states which have reported low claims, those yet to share information, and sought details on eight counts – compliance of October 4 order; procedure adopted to invite applications for ex-gratia relief; deaths recorded; claims received; compensation given; setting up of a compliance framework; details of online portals; publicity given to the scheme; and details of where the compensation can be collected. The Centre filed an affidavit informing the court that, till November 23, the PM CARES scheme received 5,335 applications for financial relief to children orphaned due to Covid and 2,705 these have been approved by concerned district magistrates, and 1,503 postal accounts have been opened for the transfer of funds.