Supreme Court allows Centre to investigate fake Covid-19 compensation claims

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Centre to start an investigation into fake claims for ex-gratia compensation for family members of those who died after contracting the coronavirus disease, PTI reported.

On Monday, the Centre had informed the Supreme Court that four states – Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh – have reported the highest number of fake Covid ex-gratia compensation claims, India Today reported. The Union government had also sought a sample survey to verify the fake claims.

Responding to the plea, the Supreme Court on Thursday told the Centre that it could verify 5% of claims in these four states, the Hindustan Times reported.

A bench of Justices MR Shah and BC Nagarathna observed that in these four states the gap between the number of claims and deaths registered was wide, PTI reported.

Supreme Court’s order on ex-gratia

On October 4, the Supreme Court ordered states to pay Rs 50,000 as ex-gratia compensation to the relatives of those who died due to the virus. This amount is to be paid through the state disaster response funds.

The order said that states cannot refuse ex-gratia solely on the grounds that Covid-19 is not mentioned as the cause of death.

On February 4, the Supreme Court directed all states and Union Territories to appoint nodal officers to ensure the ex-gratia payment is completed. The bench had said that the state governments should make sure the compensation is paid within 10 days of receiving the claim.

However, at an hearing on March 14, the bench had observed that an inquiry was needed to investigate the possible misuse of the compensation.

“We never visualised that this kind of fake claims could come,” the bench had said, the Deccan Herald reported. “It’s a pious world. We never thought this scheme could be misused.”

It then allowed the Centre to move an application for an investigation into these fake claims.