Government to Supreme Court: Make Covid compensation claim time-bound

The Centre has urged the Supreme Court to set a deadline for filing claims related to Covid-19 deaths. The process would, otherwise, 'continue endlessly', contended solicitor general Tushar Mehta. The SC seemed to agree with the need for an outer limit for making such claims.

SC had earlier mandated that families of every person who died of Covid-19 be compensated ₹50,000 drawn from the National Disaster Management Authority. Affected families were given an opportunity to apply online or offline for compensation.

Mehta on Monday suggested not to allow the process to continue 'indefinitely'. The claims must be made time-bound, he said. He also said as fears of the pandemic recede, they could be 'fake death certificates' which could overwhelm the claims process.


The bench of Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna said that it would examine the phenomena of fake certificates accompanying such claims. Justice Shah agreed with the suggestion of laying down a deadline within which all such claims must be made. "Otherwise it will continue for 5-6 years," he said. SC had eased the process of applying for compensation when it ruled that a death certificate was more than enough to claim it. Amicus curiae Gaurav Agarwal and other senior advocates, such as R Basant, appearing for Kerala, will respond to the twin suggestions by Mehta, who appeared for the Centre and Gujarat governments. The hearing will continue on Monday.