The Central Government has responded to the petition filed in the Supreme Court regarding compensation to the families of those who lost their lives from Corona. The central government has said that the compensation of 4 lakh cannot be given to the families who lost their lives due to corona. Compensatory compensation under the Disaster Management Act is applicable only for natural calamities such as earthquakes, floods etc.
It would be unfair to give ex-gratia for one illness and deny it for another. The payment of compensation to all the corona victims is beyond the financial capacity of the states. The Supreme Court is hearing the petition in this regard. In the petition, the Center and the states have been requested to give an ex-gratia amount of four lakh rupees to the families of those who lost their lives due to infection under the Disaster Management Act 2005. The Supreme Court will hear the matter on Monday.
The central government has also told the court that under the Disaster Act, it is only the right of the government to take a decision in the event of a disaster. Court cannot interfere in this. The matter may come up for hearing next week.
So far, 3,86,713 people have died due to the epidemic in the country. The central government said that the Supreme Court has already made it clear that policy matters should be left to the executive. In such a situation, the court cannot give any decision in this regard. On death certificates for corona victims, the Center said that the deaths from Kovid will be certified as Kovid deaths in the death certificates.
According to media reports, government said that if an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh is given to all those who lost their lives due to corona, then the entire amount of SDRF will be spent on only one thing and this will affect the amount used in the fight against the epidemic.
If the SDRF funds are spent on compensation to the corona victims, it will affect the fight against the corona of the states and there will not be enough money left for other medical supplies and care of the disasters. Therefore, the petitioner’s prayer for payment of ex-gratia amount to the persons who died of Corona is beyond the financial capacity of the State Governments.
