<p>The Supreme Court on Friday directed all states and union territories to accept applications for Covid-19 compensation on merit, even if those are filed offline.</p>.<p>The top court also slammed the Maharashtra government for rejecting offline applications, saying, "You are not doing charity. As a welfare state it is your duty. Why are you sending people from pillar to post?" </p>.<p>It said if any government were to reject an offline application, then it will bring on record a reason for rejection within a week and give an opportunity to persons to rectify errors. </p>.<p>The court also pulled up the Karnataka government over dishonouring of cheques to the family of Covid-19 victims in some cases. It asked the state counsel to ascertain the reasons for it.</p>.<p>A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna emphasised that states should make all endeavours to pay the compensation within a maximum period of 10 days from the receipt of the application seeking the claim. </p>.<p>The top court also directed all state governments and union territories to appoint a dedicated nodal officer to coordinate with the member secretary of the state legal service authority (SLSA) to facilitate payment of the ex gratia compensation. </p>.<p>The court was examining the compliance of its previous judgement on disbursal of Rs 50,000 ex gratia for Covid-19 deaths, passed on a PIL by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal and others.</p>.<p>The court noted that the Maharashtra government has rejected over 61,000 applications out of 2.27 lakh applications received in connection with Covid-19 compensation.</p>.<p>"No offline application can be rejected….some applications were rejected on the ground that they were filed offline. Such a rejection is deprecated and it is in teeth of the order passed by the court,” the bench said.</p>.<p>The court also made it clear that no compensation application can be rejected on technical grounds and if any technical glitch is found, the state government should give an opportunity to cure defects.</p>.<p>The bench noted that the state governments have only given statistics and not full particulars of the registered deaths due to Covid-19 on their portal and the number of persons who have received compensation.</p>.<p>“We direct all the state governments to give full particulars including their name, address, death certificate etc to the concerned state legal service authority, including orphans within one week,” the bench said.</p>.<p>The court fixed the matter for further hearing on March 7.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>
<p>The Supreme Court on Friday directed all states and union territories to accept applications for Covid-19 compensation on merit, even if those are filed offline.</p>.<p>The top court also slammed the Maharashtra government for rejecting offline applications, saying, "You are not doing charity. As a welfare state it is your duty. Why are you sending people from pillar to post?" </p>.<p>It said if any government were to reject an offline application, then it will bring on record a reason for rejection within a week and give an opportunity to persons to rectify errors. </p>.<p>The court also pulled up the Karnataka government over dishonouring of cheques to the family of Covid-19 victims in some cases. It asked the state counsel to ascertain the reasons for it.</p>.<p>A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna emphasised that states should make all endeavours to pay the compensation within a maximum period of 10 days from the receipt of the application seeking the claim. </p>.<p>The top court also directed all state governments and union territories to appoint a dedicated nodal officer to coordinate with the member secretary of the state legal service authority (SLSA) to facilitate payment of the ex gratia compensation. </p>.<p>The court was examining the compliance of its previous judgement on disbursal of Rs 50,000 ex gratia for Covid-19 deaths, passed on a PIL by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal and others.</p>.<p>The court noted that the Maharashtra government has rejected over 61,000 applications out of 2.27 lakh applications received in connection with Covid-19 compensation.</p>.<p>"No offline application can be rejected….some applications were rejected on the ground that they were filed offline. Such a rejection is deprecated and it is in teeth of the order passed by the court,” the bench said.</p>.<p>The court also made it clear that no compensation application can be rejected on technical grounds and if any technical glitch is found, the state government should give an opportunity to cure defects.</p>.<p>The bench noted that the state governments have only given statistics and not full particulars of the registered deaths due to Covid-19 on their portal and the number of persons who have received compensation.</p>.<p>“We direct all the state governments to give full particulars including their name, address, death certificate etc to the concerned state legal service authority, including orphans within one week,” the bench said.</p>.<p>The court fixed the matter for further hearing on March 7.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>