Reach Out To Children Orphaned Due To COVID To Pay Compensation : Supreme Court Directs States
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the States to reach out to children who were orphaned due to COVID-19 for paying them ex-gratia compensation of Rs 50,000. The Court noted that the orphans may not be in a position to submit applications to claim compensation and hence the State authorities should reach out to them.The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR) has told...
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the States to reach out to children who were orphaned due to COVID-19 for paying them ex-gratia compensation of Rs 50,000. The Court noted that the orphans may not be in a position to submit applications to claim compensation and hence the State authorities should reach out to them.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR) has told the Court that about 10,000 children have become orphans in the pandemic, as per the data uploaded by the States in the Bal Swaraj portal.
Taking note of this, a bench comprising Justice MR Shah and Justice Sanjiv Khanna ordered :
"It is reported that in the entire country and as per information uploaded on Bal Swaraj portal approximately 10,000 children have lost both the parents, therefore it will be very difficult for them to make an application or submit a claim for compensation. We direct concerned states to reach to those children who have lost both their parents/surviving parents and whose particles are already uploaded on Bal Swaraj portal so that compensation can be paid to them. We also direct the concerned state to share the full information/particulars with respect to the number of deaths recorded by the concerned states as well as the information uploaded on the Bal Swaraj portal to the concerned Legal Services Authority".
The bench was considering the case Gaurav Kumar Bansal versus Union of India, in which it is monitoring the disbursal of ex-gratia for COVID-19 deaths. Earlier, the bench had directed the States to give wide publicity to the application process in print, electronic and social media so that the families of victims are made aware of the compensation scheme.
The Court also directed that the States should not reject compensation claims on technical grounds.
The Supreme Court has approved the compensation amount of Rs 50,000 for COVID deaths as recommended by the National Disaster Management Authority.
The matter is to be next listed on 4th Feb, 2022.
Citation : 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 70