The Supreme Court has directed state governments not to reject Covid death claims on technical grounds and directed that compensation to verified cases should be paid within 10 days.
It has also castigated the official government mortality statistics and has unequivocally said that these are far from the actual number of deaths recorded by municipal authorities or at healthcare facilities.
A lot many claims are being rejected by States on flimsy grounds of supposed fraud , which the SC said is wrong; to quote one instance, Maharashtra has so far denied 60,000 applications on grounds of data mismatch.
SC also expressed displeasure over the delay on the part of some States to reach out to bereaved families, it said that in a welfare state it is the bounden duty of the sarkar to proactively help the aggrieved and that it is not to be seen as charity.
It instructed that a dedicated nodal officer be appointed for better coordination between the legal services authority and other organs of the government for speedy disbursal of ex-gratia payments.
Of late an impression has been gaining ground that the powers that be are loath to do anything for the common man's benefit without prodding from the judiciary. Kudos to the courts for taking up the cudgels on the aam aadmi's behalf.
