New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking formulation of a national policy for uniform compensation for families of those who have died due the coronavirus disease.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R S Reddy dismissed the plea saying that every state has a different policy and gives compensation as per its financial power.
Advocate Deepak Prakash, appearing for petitioner Hashik Thayikandy, said that all he is asking for is a national policy to be formulated that would provide for uniform compensation throughout the country.
So many people have died in India due to COVID-19 and the victims are not getting equal compensation, he said.
Prakash said that in some cases, the Delhi government has given Rs 1 crore as compensation, while some states are giving Rs 1 lakh. There is no uniform policy on compensation, he said.
The bench said it is dismissing the plea, after which the counsel sought to withdraw it.
The petitioner, has also sought a direction to the Centre as well as state governments to formulate an appropriate “compensation plan” to provide ex-gratia monetary compensation to the kin of essential workers and healthcare workers who have succumbed to COVID-19.
It has urged the court to seek a status report from state governments on the total number of COVID-19-related causalities and measures taken by authorities for compensating for loss of life due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The petition claimed that a majority of the country’s population belong to financially weaker sections, wherein only one person is an earning member and others in the family are solely depend on that income for their sustenance.
“The said citizens are also the tax payers of our country. In such a structure, whereby the death rate is only increasing at an alarming rate per day, it is imperative for the state to formulate appropriate guidelines, on compassionate grounds, for ex-gratia compensation to families of the COVID-19 casualties, especially for frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, paramedical staff etc., solely with the purpose of aiding the families for their basic survival and sustenance during this pandemic,” the plea said.
—PTI

Press Trust of India