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‘May ask CAG to consider matter’: SC on fake Covid ex-gratia claims
It was the second time the court expressed anguish over fake claims following revelations made by the Centre last week.
An inquiry by the Comptroller and Auditor General may be necessary to investigate possible misuse of a Supreme Court order to provide ₹ 50,000 as compensation for Covid deaths, apex court judges observed on Monday.
Learning about fake claims processed by some states, details of which will be provided by the central government before the next date of hearing on March 21, a bench of justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna said, “We never visualized that our order could be misused. We thought our morality will never go so down that there will be fake claims.”
It was the second time the court expressed anguish over fake claims following revelations made by the Centre last week. Although it had asked the federal government to ink the details in an application for passing necessary orders, solicitor general Tushar Mehta on Monday sought another day to file the affidavit.
He also asked the court to consider ordering an outer limit of four weeks on the filing of compensation claims from the day of a Covid death.
“Put up the matter on Monday to enable appropriate application by the Union of India on limiting the time period to invite applications for ex-gratia payment and seeking further directions on fake claims being made and granted by some of the states,” The bench said.
Taking a strict view on fake claims, the judges observed, “We can ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to consider the matter. We never imagined such a situation will arise, and if officers of the state are involved, that makes it more serious.”
The compensation is a one-time payment, and on each Covid death, only one family member will be entitled to receive an amount of ₹50,000, the court clarified.
The Assam government had moved an application asking whether the compensation was to be paid to each orphan, after the state identified six families with more than one child who were orphaned.
The top court on June 30 last year had directed that those who died due to Covid-19 will be entitled to compensation under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. This order came on two petitions filed in public interest by advocates Gaurav Kumar Bansal and Reepak Kansal.
On October 4, the Court quantified the compensation at ₹50,000 payable by state governments from the state disaster response funds.
Later, the court monitored the payouts after it noticed states were trying to stymie its orders through lack of publicity, rejecting applications on technical grounds, and insisting upon documents and formalities for claiming compensation.
The court had said any person approaching authorities with proof of death within 30 days of a positive RT-PCR report, or supporting medical or hospital records will be entitled to compensation.
On March 7, the Centre through Mehta informed the court that certain doctors were writing fake medical prescriptions. The government further informed the court that such misuse was reported from many states.
