We want all eligible people to get compensation: SC on Covid deaths

The Supreme Court of India is making all efforts to get those people compensated whose family members have died due to Covid-19.

The case was filed in Supreme Court last year by victims who had alleged that the government was not paying any compensation to people who died due to Covid-19. On the court's order, the government agreed to pay Rs 50,000 compensation for each Covid-19 death.

During the hearing of the case on January 19, the Supreme Court expressed anger with some of the state governments such as Bihar and Kerala for a low number of claims.

These states rejected a large number of cases on various grounds and that’s the reason very few people became eligible for the compensation.

The government also rejected the Covid-19 death numbers that these governments have given to the court. The court rejected the data saying that these were not the actual number of deaths.

“We are not going to believe that only 12,000 people died in the state of Bihar due to Covid,” the bench told the counsel who appeared for the Bihar government.

It added, “What is this going on in Kerala? Unlike other states, why are there so many less claims? You have recorded deaths and their particulars, why cannot the state government officials reach out to the family or the kin for compensation. Let your people go to the district, Taluka level and find out the family members of Covid victims.”

The court also said, “Our anxiety is that we want all the eligible people to get the compensation so that they can get some relief.”