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SC tells Centre to frame guidelines for Covid-19 death certificates by Sept 11
The two directions mentioned above were part of a landmark June 30 top court order that entitled people who died after being infected with Covid-19 to an ex-gratia amount under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The Supreme Court on Friday gave the Union government a “last opportunity” till September 11 to report compliance on the issuance of death certificates for Covid-linked fatalities and to frame a national insurance scheme for disaster-related deaths.
The two directions mentioned above were part of a landmark June 30 top court order that entitled people who died after being infected with Covid-19 to an ex-gratia amount under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The court, at the time, granted the Centre six weeks then to fix the amount. This period was extended by four weeks on August 16, when the court also gave the Union government two weeks to report compliance on its other directions.
Appearing for the Centre, solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta told the court on Friday that the Centre was in the process of complying with the June 30 order, and required another week to file its response.
To this, a bench of justices MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose remarked: “By the time you will take steps, even the third wave [of Covid cases] will be over. Our orders directing correction of death certificates was passed long back. You agreed to file a response on our directions by today. We will now grant you a last opportunity.”
The court asked that the affidavit be filed by September 11, and posted the matter for hearing on September 13.
Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, who filed the public interest litigation (PIL) resulting in the June 30 order, told the court that the Centre should respect the court’s verdict. “It is unfortunate that the Centre is delaying compliance,” Bansal said.
An intervention application, filed by people seeking benefit of ex-gratia payment for Covid deaths, informed the court that the last date for framing the ex-gratia scheme was September 8. “As regards ex-gratia, we had extended time on the last occasion (August 16). It is up to the Centre to comply with our orders,” the bench said.
The June 30 judgment held that the kin of people who died due to Covid would be entitled to ex-gratia compensation under Section 12(iii) of the DMA 2005 since the coronavirus disease was declared a notified disaster under the Act. Although the family members of people killed in notified disasters are entitled to a sum of ₹4 lakh ex-gratia according to an April 8, 2015 letter issued by the Union home ministry, the court did not fix the quantum of compensation in this case, leaving it for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
Two other key directions passed by the Court included simplified guidelines for the issuance of death certificate, stating that the cause of death in such cases should specify “due to Covid-19”; and the court said that people who died within two to three months after being found Covid-positive must be included in the ‘Covid deaths’ category . For those who already obtained death certificates, the court directed the Centre to provide a mechanism for affected family members to get corrections done.
The court also directed the Centre to take appropriate steps in line with the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission by providing for a National Insurance Scheme for disaster-related deaths. According to the Finance Commission, such programmes could work as social protection scheme without increasing the financial burden on the government.
