Supreme Court orders scrutiny to track fake Covid death claims

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said nobody can be permitted to misuse Rs 50,000 ex-gratia compensation to next of kin of those who succumbed to Covid-19, as it allowed the Centre to conduct a random scrutiny of 5 per cent of the applications filed in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra to catch fake applicants.

A bench of Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna said: "This Court passed the order directing the Union of India/NDMA/concerned states to pay ex-gratia amount keeping in mind the humanity and keeping in mind the sufferings of the family members who lost one of their family members due to Covid-19. Therefore, nobody can be permitted to misuse the same and it is also against morality and is unethical, which can never be accepted." The bench noted that 7,38,610 claims are received and, therefore, it may be very difficult to verify each and every claim. "We permit the NDMA/Union of India, through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to carry out the random scrutiny of 5 per cent of the claim applications by the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra at the first instance." It emphasised that nobody can be permitted to avail the ex-gratia compensation by making a false claim or submitting the false certificate.

The bench said state governments are directed to assist in carrying out the scrutiny of the claim applications, while asking the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to carry out the scrutiny within a period of three months and submit the report before it. "If it is found that a ybody has made a fake claim, the same shall be considered under Section 52 of the Act, 2005 (Disaster Management Act) and liable to be punished accordingly," it added. The bench considered Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's submissions that if there is no outer time limit fixed, then the process of receiving the claims would go endless and, in that case, there is all possibility of submitting false claims.