New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday lashed out at the Maharashtra government for paying the ex gratia amount for COVID-19 deaths to only 1,658 applicants against the 85,000 applications received.
Calling it "very unfortunate", the court ordered the state to make payment of Rs 50,000 to all the applicants who have submitted applications till today, in 10 days including approval and actual payment.
The bench led by Justice MR Shah was hearing a matter wherein it had ordered for disbursal of Rs 50,000 to the kin of those who died due to Covid-19, which would include health issues that arose due to the virus as well.
UP government informed the court that 20,060 applicants have been given benefits and a toll-free number of Tehsildar is given. Court expressed its concern over no one picking up the call and said that advertisements in local newspapers with all the particulars should be given. The court said that it is worried about the advertisement, wide publicity, details regarding where to make applications etc. and the ads should not be of one or two lines, it should have full particulars.
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Gujarat submitted that it issued advertisements in 97 newspapers and received 40,467 applications. The court appreciated the state and said that it is satisfied with the state's ads. It asked the counsel for the state to also forward the format to other states which should be following them. Court also noted that applications in Gujarat increased after the ads, payments for 24,000 applications have been paid and for the rest, it will be paid in a week from today.
Bihar submitted that it has paid 90% of the 12,090 applications received. Court asked it to ensure that rest are paid and asked it to submit the particulars of advertisements also.
ASG Aishwarya Bhati also informed the court that there is incorrect reporting of number of deaths to which the court said that it won't comment upon. It said that in a common man's perspective everyone will say it is underreported, there may be reasons for it but it would refrain from commenting on that and the core issue is to benefit maximum people.
Adding on further, the court said that as a welfare state, it should be ensured that people don't suffer more, nobody worries about more deaths and applications and gets the benefits. The court said that it is satisfactory if the order helps the people.
