SC allows Centre to probe Covid-19 ex gratia claims

The bench offered a 60-day window for any new deaths that occurred till March 20 and for future claims, permitted the deceased’s family to file claim within 90 days from the date of death.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Centre to probe and detect false claims filed for ex gratia being given to families of those who died on Covid-19.

Asking the Centre to investigate claims in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, the court sought a report in three months. (HT File)

Asking the Centre to investigate claims in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, the court sought a report in three months. The data from these states shows a marked difference in the number of claims received against the official Covid-19 death figures.

So far, these states have received 7,38,610 claims for the ₹50,000 ex gratia. The bench offered a 60-day window for any new deaths that occurred till March 20 and for future claims, permitted the deceased’s family to file claim within 90 days from the date of death. The Centre was also directed to publicise the order widely every fortnight for the next six weeks. The bench of justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna said, “If it is found that anybody has made a fake claim, the same shall be considered under Section 52 of the Disaster Management Act Act, 2005 and liable to be punished accordingly.” Section 52 of the Disaster Management Act deals with filing of false claims and carries a punishment of jail term up to two years with fine.

The June 30, 2021, order directing the government to pay ex gratia for Covid deaths was passed keeping in mind the “humanity and sufferings of the family members” who lost a member, the bench said. “Nobody can be permitted to misuse the same and it is also against morality and is unethical; which can never be accepted,” it noted.

The bench permitted the NDMA or the ministry of health and family welfare to conduct random scrutiny of 5% claim applications processed by Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra in the first instance.

The order was passed on an application moved by the Centre in a PIL by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal in 2021 wherein, the court was monitoring payout of ex gratia by respective states.

The Centre, through solicitor general Tushar Mehta, alerted the court about reports of fake ex gratia claims being processed by some state governments under the garb of the court’s order.

As per the status report available with the Centre as on February 3, Andhra Pradesh recorded 14,527 deaths and received 42,924 claims. Maharashtra recorded 142,705 deaths but received a whopping 227,107 claims. Gujarat received 102,230 claims as against initially recorded deaths of 10,089. Kerala was the odd one out as it received only 44,864 claims, below its registered Covid death count of 52,786. But Mehta pointed out that there were “genuine apprehensions of submitting fake claims in some states”.

The bench said, “Considering the fact that more than nine months have passed after the first judgment and order and thereafter four months have passed after the subsequent judgment and order of November 29, 2021, passed by this Court and by now ,approximately 738,610 claims have been received by the concerned states…. Solicitor General is right in apprehending that if there is no outer time limit fixed, then the process of receiving the claims would go endless and, in that case, there is all possibility of submitting false claims.”

Although Centre suggested capping the time limit at four weeks, the bench felt it would not be sufficient. It said, “The family would need some reasonable time to recover from the death and sorrow and filing the claim,” as it proceeded to fix 60 days and 90 days as outer limits for filing claims. To ensure no genuine claimant is missed out, the Court allowed the grievance redressal committee (GRC) of each states to consider late claims.

“If it is found by the GRC that a particular claimant could not make the claim within the stipulated time which was beyond their control, his/her case may be considered on merits,” the bench added. However, the court reminded the state governments to process all claims within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt.