New Delhi: "We never imagined that these kinds of fake claims would be made....it is a pious work. We never assumed this scheme could be misused," observed the court and said that it might order an investigation into it by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
The bench comprising Justice MR Shah and Justice BV Nagaratha was hearing the matter regarding its directions to the government to pay ex gratia amount of Rs 50,000 to the families of those who died due to Covid and its other directions to give wide publicity to this scheme in the media so that it reaches the maximum number of people.
In the last hearing, the Solicitor General had highlighted the issue of fake Covid death claims for which the court had warned against. It had asked the Solicitor General to file an application then also, but due to some misinterpretation, the application was not filed. Now, it will be filed on Tuesday and the matter will be taken up for hearing again on March 21.
The Solicitor General has suggested that there should be a time limit for claiming money from the government for Covid deaths, or else it would become an endless process. The court asked him to include a time limit, an ex gratia limit, along with fake claims made and granted in some states, in the application.
Read: SC to hear plea seeking Rs 4L ex gratia to kin of people who died of COVID
