Modi govt can’t say it is too poor to pay ex gratia to Covid victims

The Supreme Court has taken the case for payment of ex gratia to the families of those who died due to Covid-19 a definitive step forward by directing the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to frame guidelines within six weeks to fix the amount to be paid.

It is now certain that the payment will have to be made, despite the government’s opposition to making any payment. The court pulled up the NDMA for failing in its duty to recommend payment, and this censure applies to the government because the Prime Minister himself heads the NDMA. The direction was issued by a three-member bench while considering a PIL for payment of ex gratia. The court did not accept the plea of the petitioner to fix the ex gratia amount at Rs 4 lakh, and left it to the NDMA to decide on it.

The court underlined some basic principles of public policy and institutional conduct with its order and its observations. It found the government’s refusal to pay compensation unjustifiable and the reasons it cited unacceptable. The Disaster Relief Act provides for relief to victims of various disasters and the government could not simply refuse to pay it after it had declared Covid-19 a disaster that came within the purview of the Act.

None of the reasons put forward by the government was good enough for it to escape its legal responsibility. The government had told the court that the ex gratia amount would be very big and it could not afford to pay it. It also said that the epidemic was a continuing disaster while the Act had contemplated only one-time events. It contended that the government had to spend money on various other needs relating to public health, vaccination, treatment, etc.

The court made it clear that “The State may have its financial constraints and its priorities in expenditure, but the law does not permit any government to deprive its citizens of constitutional rights on plea of poverty.’’

This is an important assertion of the rights of citizens and a guideline on the policies to be followed by governments. The court also justified its decision in the matter as it was more an issue of citizens’ rights than one of its intervention in the executive’s domain. It has done well to push the government into a decision in the matter as it had earlier done in the case of issues like its vaccination policy and relief for migrant labourers. The government’s policies should at once be legal, just and humane.