SC to allow Centre to probe fake Covid-19 ex-gratia claims

The Supreme Court on Monday indicated it may allow the Centre to make a random check of overall claims processed by the States for ex-gratia payments to the families of Covid-19 victims.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna also said the top court may grant 60 days' time for filing claims for the persons who have already died and in case of future deaths, such claims can be made within 90 days' time.

The court also said the Centre's suggestion for fixing four weeks' time to make claims was "too low".

Also Read | Covid deaths: Plea in SC wants deadline for seeking ex gratia payment

The bench reserved its order on the application filed by the Union government for fixing a timeline to make ex-gratia claims and allowing it to conduct sample scrutiny of the claims in view of "flourishing racket" ex-gratia is sought on the basis of fake or forged death certificate in connivance with local officers. It said the order would be passed by Wednesday.

It also asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to give some statistics on States where a high number of fake claims were detected.

In his submission, Mehta said the Centre wanted to probe claims made in States of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala.

During the hearing, the court sought to know the agency which can be entrusted to launch a probe into fake claims.

The court was told the National Disaster Management Authority or the Legal Services Authority can be asked to look into the matter.

"There has to be some check on the claims. There should be some statutory power to probe," the bench noted as the counsel said it could be done under Section 52 of the Disaster Management Act.

The top court has been examining compliance of its judgement of June 30, 2021, for disbursal of ex-gratia to kin of Covid-19 victims, passed in a PIL filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal.

So far over 5.16 lakh deaths have taken place due to Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

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