"Never Thought It Could Be Misused": Court's Concern On Fake Covid Claims

The Supreme Court today expressed concern over misuse of its order and people getting Covid death compensation of Rs 50,000 on the basis of fake documents. The court suggested that it may direct a probe into the issue by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

"We never visualised that these kinds of fake claims would be made," Justice MR Shah said.

"It (giving compensation) is a pious work. We never thought this scheme could be misused," he added.

A bench of Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna were hearing the matter.

On March 7, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre had mentioned the issue of fake COVID-19 certificates or fake claims and how it can be curbed.

The Supreme Court had then warned against the misuse of its order to get ex-gratia compensation for COVID-19 death on the basis of fake medical certificates and had observed that it would order an independent probe to catch those who indulged in such practice.

The court today directed the Centre to file a detailed application on the issue of fake claims and also on limiting the time for filing compensation claims.

The application is to be filed by tomorrow.

SG Tushar Mehta suggested today that an outer limit should be placed on filing compensation claims. People should be required to file claims within 4 weeks of death taking place, the "process of claiming compensation should not be endless".

Justice Shah said that if officials are involved, it makes it is even more serious.

The court was hearing a plea filed by lawyer-cum-petitioner Gaurav Kumar Bansal who had sought compensation for those family members whose relatives died due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, the Supreme Court had approved the Centre's disaster management guidelines on payment of Rs 50,000 compensation for each Covid death and said that the money should be disbursed within 30 days of applying.

Senior advocate R Basant, appearing for the Kerala government, has suggested random examination of the compensation claims by the state legal services authorities.

The matter will be heard next on March 21.

The top court had earlier directed all states governments and Union Territories to appoint a dedicated nodal officer to coordinate with the member secretary of the state legal service authority (SLSA) to facilitate payment of compensation to the family members of COVID-19 victims.

The apex court, which was earlier annoyed over the non-disbursal of Rs 50,000 to the kin/family members of those who lost their lives due to COVID-19, had pulled up the state governments.

It had said on October 4 last year that no state shall deny payment to the next of kin of the deceased solely on the ground that the death certificate does not mention the virus as the cause of death.

The court had also said that the payment is to be disbursed within 30 days from the date of applying to the district disaster management authority or the district administration concerned. 

The top court had said that its directions for payment of compensation to the family members of the persons who died due to COVID-19 are very clear and there was no requirement at all of constituting a scrutiny committee to award compensation.

It had said it was very much made clear that even in a case where, in the death certificate, the cause is not shown as death due to COVID-19 but if found that deceased was declared positive for coronavirus and has died within 30 days, automatically his or her family members are entitled to the compensation without any further conditions.