Refusing to entertain a plea seeking formulation of a national policy for uniform compensation for families of those who have died due the coronavirus disease, the Supreme Court on Monday said that every State has a different policy and gives compensation as per its financial power.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R S Reddy dismissed the plea after which the counsel for the petitioner sought to withdraw it. Advocate Deepak Prakash, appearing for petitioner Hashik Thayikandy, said that all he is asking for is a national policy to be formulated that would provide for uniform compensation throughout the country.
So many people have died in India due to Covid-19 and the victims are not getting equal compensation, he said. He said that in some cases, the Delhi government has given Rs 1 crore as compensation, while some states are giving Rs 1 lakh. There is no uniform policy on compensation, he said.
The petitioner, has also sought a direction to the Centre as well as State governments to formulate an ‘appropriate’ compensation plan to provide ex-gratia monetary compensation to the kin of essential workers and healthcare workers who have succumbed to Covid-19. It has urged the court to seek a status report from state governments on the total number of Covid-19-related causalities and measures taken by authorities for compensating for loss of life due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the petition, a majority of the country’s population belong to financially weaker sections, wherein only one person is an earning member and others in the family are solely depend on that income for their sustenance.
“The said citizens are also the tax payers of our country. In such a structure, whereby the death rate is only increasing at an alarming rate per day, it is imperative for the state to formulate appropriate guidelines, on compassionate grounds, for ex-gratia compensation to families of the Covid-19 casualties, especially for frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, paramedical staff etc., solely with the purpose of aiding the families for their basic survival and sustenance during this pandemic,” it said.
Pertinently, the death of an Indian citizen not only impacts his/her own personal life, but it affects the lives of all the members of the family who were dependent on the sole source of income, it added. Though most of the things mentioned in the petition are acceptable and true, one size never fits all, especially when it comes to India.