Petitioners have asked for Rs 4 lakh compensation to families of those who died of COVID-19 (File)
The Supreme Court on Friday gave the government time till September 11 to file a compliance report on a June 30 order directing it to frame guidelines for issuing death certificates and paying compensation to the families of those who have died of COVID-19.
The court was disinclined to grant the 10 days the government sought.
It pointed out that a significant period had passed since its last order and said that unless steps were taken immediately, the third wave too would have passed and the government would face an even bigger challenge.
"The order on death certificates, (compensation for) death, etc. was passed long back. By the time you take further steps, third wave will also be over," the court said.
In June the court ruled that the families of those who died from Covid should get financial compensation, and gave the NDMA, or National Disaster Management Authority, six weeks to decide on the amount and frame the required guidelines.
The court said the central agency was bound to give "minimum standards of relief, which includes ex-gratia assistance", but said the actual amount would be left "to the wisdom of the authority".
The court also said death certificates for those who died of COVID-19 must include date and cause of death (CoD), and also have mechanisms to correct CoD if the family is not satisfied.
The government had then argued that as per Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act, the word "shall" should be construed as "may", meaning it is not mandatory to provide compensation.
The government also said compensation could not be paid as it applied only to natural disasters, and further that states could not afford Rs 4 lakh - the amount proposed by petitioners - for every family.
"Utilisation of scarce resources for giving ex-gratia, may have unfortunate consequences of affecting the pandemic response and health expenditure in other aspects and hence cause more damage than good," the government had said.
The opposition Congress has slammed the centre over this issue, demanding compensation of Rs 10 lakh per family and saying the government had no right to rule it could not provide this sum.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said funds could be diverted from taxes collected on petrol and diesel.