The Centre today said the Supreme Court, vide its Order dated 24 March, has fixed the timelines for beneficiaries to file claims for payment of ex-gratia assistance to the families of COVID-19 deceased as announced by the National Disaster Management Authority.
According to an official release, the key directions issued by the apex court are:
–An outer time limit of sixty days shall be applicable from 24th March 2022 to file the claims for compensation in case the death occurred due to COVID-19 prior to 20th March 2022.
–For any future deaths, ninety days’ time shall be provided from the date of death due to COVID-19 to file the claim for compensation; and
–The earlier order to process the claims and to make the actual payment of compensation within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of the claim shall continue to be enforced.
The court, however, directed that in case of extreme hardship where any claimant could not make an application within the time prescribed, it will be open for the claimant to approach the Grievance Redressal Committee and make the claim which shall be considered by the committee on a case to case basis. If it is found by the committee that a particular claimant could not make the claim within the stipulated time which was beyond their control, his/her case may be considered on merits.
Moreover, the court also directed that in a bid to minimise the risk of fake claims, random scrutiny of the 5 per cent of the claim applications shall be made at the first instance. If it is found that anybody has made a fake claim, the same shall be considered under Section 52 of the DM Act, 2005 and liable to be punished accordingly.