Permitting the Centre to conduct an inquiry into fake claims for ex-gratia meant for family members of those who have lost their lives due to Covid-19, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Government to verify 5 per cent of claims in four States — Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh — where the gap between number of claims and recorded deaths was wide.
A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna said, "Nobody can be permitted to avail the compensation by making a false claim or submitting the false certificate. We permit the National Disaster Management Authority/Union of India, through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to carry out the random scrutiny," the bench said.
If it is found that anybody has made a fake claim, the same shall be considered under Section 52 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and liable to be punished accordingly, the bench said.
The apex court also set a period of 60 days which would be given to all such persons who are eligible as on date to apply for the ex-gratia compensation and 90 days shall be given to the future claimants.
"We deem it appropriate to fix the outer limit of 60 days from today to file the claims for compensation in case the death occurred due to COVID-19 prior to 20.03.2022. For future deaths, 90 days' time is provided from the date of death due to COVID-19 to file the claim for compensation.
"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 claim is ordered to be continued," the bench said.
The top court directed the concerned States to assist in carrying out the scrutiny of the claim applications.
It also directed the states to submit all the necessary particulars of the respective claims that have been attended/processed to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, who shall carry out the scrutiny within a period of three months from today and submit the report before this Court.