Supreme Court directs state governments to pay compensation to Covid-19 victim’s families

New Delhi, July 19: The grievance redressal commission must make a decision on a claim application within four weeks, and the Supreme Court on Monday ordered state and union territory governments to ensure that the families of Covid-19 victims receive compensation without delay.

If any claimant has a dispute regarding compensation or the denial of the claim, they should contact the relevant grievance redressal body, according to a bench of Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna.

The bench announced that it is ending the proceedings and ordering the state governments to ensure that the compensation, as per the court’s prior order, is given to qualified individuals without delay. It said that claimants could go to the relevant grievance redressal committee if they had any complaints.

The top court made these findings while deliberating a case brought by petitioner-in-person lawyer Gaurav Bansal, who argued that only a small number of Andhra Pradesh claimants had not been compensated. However, the attorney for the Andhra Pradesh government informed the supreme court that as of the hearing date, the compensation has been paid to them.

The grievance redressal commission was also given a four-week deadline by the top court to deliberate on the claimant’s case.

The State Disaster Response Fund was to be used to pay the Rs 50,000 in compensation that the Supreme Court ordered to be granted to the families of those who died from Covid.

In response to charges that the AP administration had transferred money from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) to personal deposit accounts, the highest court ordered that the money be returned to the SDRF account within two days.

Bansal argued before the top court that the AP government had diverted monies from the SDRF to personal deposit accounts, which is prohibited by the Disaster Management Act, while acting as counsel for petitioner Palla Srinivasa Rao.

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