Supreme Court directs Center to frame norms for ex-gratia to families of Covid victims. Says Prime Minister headed NDMA failed to perform its duty

Stinging criticism by the Apex Court on the Modi Government for failing to perform its duty

Stinging criticism by the Apex Court on the Modi Government for failing to perform its duty
Stinging criticism by the Apex Court on the Modi Government for failing to perform its duty

Center faces criticism from Supreme Court for dereliction of duty

The month of June is a bad one for Central and State Governments – they are being slapped around by the Supreme Court (SC) for poor management in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 2, the apex court came down heavily on shoddy vaccination policy which forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to re-work the vaccination policy on June 7. On June 29, the SC ordered defying States like Aam Aadmi Party ruled-Delhi, Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal, Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh and BJP-ruled Assam to implement One Nation One Ration Card scheme of Central Government by July 31 for the benefit of migrant labour and un-organised labour. The Central Government’s Labour Ministry also got slammed by the SC for not preparing labour data even after spending Rs.417 crore and the Court gave an ultimatum to finish it by December 31.[1]

On Wednesday – June 30 – Central Government was asked to implement mandated ex-gratia to Covid Victims, which was cancelled by the Govt when Covid started spreading. Prime Minister chaired National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) got vehement criticism from Supreme Court for dereliction of duty. The Supreme Court directed NDMA headed by Modi to issue guidelines in six weeks for ex-gratia compensation to families of those who died of COVID, saying the NDMA has “failed to perform” its “mandatory statutory duty”.[2]

Justice Shah, writing the 66-page judgement for the bench, directed the Centre to take appropriate steps on recommendations of the Finance Commission on providing insurance cover for deaths caused by Covid.

The apex court also ordered steps to simplify guidelines for issuance and correction of “death certificates/ official documents stating the exact cause of death, that is, ‘Death due to COVID-19‘” for enabling dependents to get benefits of welfare schemes. A bench of justices Ashok Bhushan and M R Shah, however, noted the “peculiarity, the impact and effect” of the pandemic and said that it cannot order payment of Rs.4 lakh as ex-gratia compensation which should be decided by NDMA as there was a need to “focus simultaneously on prevention, preparedness, mitigation and recovery, which calls for a different order of mobilization of both financial and technical resources”.

“The courts would be very slow to interfere with priorities fixed by the government in providing reliefs unless it is patently arbitrary and/ or not in the larger public interest at all. The government should be free to take policy decisions/ decide priorities..,” the bench said while refusing to fix the compensation amount.

“We direct the NDMA to recommend guidelines for ex-gratia assistance on account of loss of life to the family members of the persons who died due to COVID-19, as mandated under Section 12(iii) of Disaster Management Act (DMA) 2005 for the minimum standards of relief to be provided to the persons affected by disaster – COVID-19 Pandemic, over and above the guidelines already recommended for the minimum standards of relief to be provided..,” it said.

Dealing with the provisions on compensation in the DMA, it said the word “shall” has to be read as “shall” and “it is the mandatory statutory duty cast upon the National Authority to recommend guidelines for the minimum standards of relief which shall include ex-gratia assistance on account of loss of life…”

Justice Shah, writing the 66-page judgement for the bench, directed the Centre to take appropriate steps on recommendations of the Finance Commission on providing insurance cover for deaths caused by Covid. The direction came after the Centre said that presently there was “no guideline/ policy/ scheme in NDMA which relates to National Insurance mechanism that may be used to pay for disaster-related deaths due to COVID”.

The top court’s verdict came on two separate pleas filed by lawyers Reepak Kansal and Gaurav Kumar Bansal seeking directions to the Centre and the states to provide Rs.4 lakh compensation to the families of Coronavirus victims as provisioned under the Act.

Here the question is why Central and State Governments failed to rise to the occasion and committed so many failures in handling the COVID-19 pandemic situations, forcing the High Courts and the Supreme Court to deliver justice? The Prime Minister and Chief Ministers must sit and think about where they went wrong and nudge the Bureaucracy for misleading them.

References:

[1] The Supreme Court Judgment exposes apathy and lackadaisical attitude of Centre and States in handling the tragedy and suffering of migrant labour during Covid pandemicJun 29, 2021, PGurus.com

[2] Supreme Court pulls up government on COVID-19 ex gratiaJun 30, 2021, The Hindu

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3 COMMENTS

  1. excellent thanks bestwishes
    worlddramastageSEEKING SUITABLEBRIDES FOROUR SONS, Kaviraj&Shilpi OURGOAL ENABLE REACHfullPOTENTIAL,FUTURE POTUS MeJOBLOST bigshock family,India wifeworked lowlevel hardwork promoted,CHILDREN SUFFERED
    ===Fwd:
    2019 June 15
    Me: Beautiful.
    ps:
    Although in severe shock and great stress, we have faced the challenges and moved forward crossing the barriers, biases, impediments etc that came before us, … it was tough, not easy, for my wife and sons and the others also … I brought up my two sons Kaviraj and Shilpi as future presidents of usa, with that attitude/ outlook/ mindset, supporting and encouraging the leadership nature already in them. They are born in usa, grew up in usa and consider themselves as Americans. The country, the people and the whole world including India where we parents are originally from will need their leadership and contributions to go forward towards better future vision in true spirit of America. It is the nature of truth, nature of nature, nature of humanity. It is the only way. There is no other choice. Actually, we do not need a different choice. Because, it is also the best way. Perfect for America and the whole world. Nothing else can be better, however you may look at it. Best wishes. Aummmm….we are seeking suitable brides for our two sons… any help, efforts etc much appreciatedThe world is dramastage weare actors Our life is what we do OUR ACT, our daily living is our daily acting role, acting finished means life finished. WE ARE SEEKING SUITABLE BRIDES FOR OUR TWO SONS, OUR GOAL IS TO ENABLE THEM REACH FULL TRUE HIGHER POTENTIAL, FUTURE PRESIDENTS OF USA. I was fired from AT&T Bell Labs in 1992 scientist engineer, it was big shock for whole family, in India too. interviews for new jobs blocked. although in shock wife worked from low level hard work later promoted, children targeted.  
    my email trhalemane gmail.com
    mobile +17329389686
    also please feel free to visit my public instagram is thirumalaraya and many posts since 2016 or so=
    Fwd
    2020 September 23
    Me: Ravi, my assessment/ guesses below =
    King of the East = Japan,
    King of the North = Norway,
    King of the South = Saudi Arabia,
    King of the West = United Kingdom,
    Others are being used and/ or helping them directly and/ or indirectly, along with their interests and ideologies, China also included. Nature of the Deep state is involved in various strong ways, including the nature of the different religions and their associated deep states, some extremely very strong… for many others, individuals also, it is just survival under whatever conditions exist for them…
    ===
    On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 Thirumala Raya Halemane  wrote:
     actually, hindus need to reclaim all the temples that were destroyed, forcibly taken over,
     (not just the three that BJP / RSS wanted, mostly for political reasons, vote-banking, otherwise they did not care initially)
     and all the other indians, including muslims, have to understand and accept that.
     it is not their (muslim’s) private property anyway, so they should not worry / have hatred towards hindus in india
     (any allowance of alternate land, is out of sympathetic considerations only)..
     you are forgetting the power of hindu temples, for inspiration etc, when you write like below, that it is less important.
    i disagree.
     in fact, everything depends on it (the recovery of the temples), we might say
    ==++====
    WE ARE SEEKING SUITABLE BRIDES FOR OUR TWO SONS KAVIRAJ AND SHILPI, FUTURE PRESIDENTS OF USA. THE WORLD IS A DRAMA STAGE AND WE ARE ACTORS. IN THE FUTURE, THE LEADERSHIP AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF OUR SONS WILL BE NEEDED BY USA AND ITS PEOPLE, ALSO BY THE WHOLE WORLD, THAT IS EAST-WEST-NORTH-SOUTH … I WAS FIRED FROM AT&T BELL LABS IN NEW JERSEY IN 1992.. IT WAS BIG SHOCK TO US, WIFE & CHILDREN, ALSO FAMILY ON BOTH MY SIDE AND WIFE’S SIDE, INCLUDING IN INDIA, SINCE EVERYBODY EXPECTED ME TO GO HIGHER UP IN JOB. I WAS NOT EVEN GETTING INTERVIEWS FOR OTHER JOBS. LATER GOT A FEW SMALLER JOBS. MY WIFE WORKED, FROM LOW LEVEL, HARD WORK, LATER PROMOTED. FORCES BEHIND THE SCENES TRYING TO PULL US DOWN. CONNECTED WITH THE EVIL PARTS OF THE GLOBAL POWER STRUCTURE. OUR SONS WERE ALSO TARGETED AND HAD TO FACE CHALLENGES. WE HAVE FACED THEM POSITIVELY AND MOVED FORWARD.  THEY ARE WORKING NOW. BOY AND GIRL HAVE TO LIKE EACH OTHER ETC THEN WE BLESS. THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP. BEST WISHES AUMMM… 

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