New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government informed the Supreme Court that the finances of states and Centre are under "severe strain", due to the reduction in tax revenues and increase in health expenses on account of the coronavirus pandemic and hence it can't pay any compensation to Covid victims.
"Rs 4 lakh compensation can't be paid to all those who died due to Covid-19 as it would exhaust the disaster relief funds, and also impact the Centre and states' preparation to address future waves of COVID-19", the centre said to Supreme Court.
In a late night affidavit filed in the apex court, the Ministry of Home Affairs submitted that ex-gratia relief under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, to 12 notified disasters is provided through the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), and the annual allocation for the year 2021-22 for SDRF, for all states combined is Rs 22,184 crore.
The centre added that the deadly disease has caused more than 3.85 lakh deaths - which is likely to increase - and states, reeling under severe financial strain, cannot pay everyone.
"Therefore, if ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh is given for every person, who lost life due to COVID-19, the entire amount of SDRF may possibly be spent on this alone, and indeed the total expenditure may go up further", said the affidavit.
The MHA argued that the finances of states and Centre are under severe strain, due to the reduction in tax revenues and increase in health expenses on account of the pandemic.
The MHA stressed that utilisation of scarce resources for giving ex-gratia, may have unfortunate consequences of affecting the pandemic response and health expenditure in other aspects and hence cause more damage than good.
In a 183-page affidavit filed late last night, the centre also added that if they pay compensation for Covid, then denying it for other diseases would be "unfair".
The government's response comes after the Supreme Court asked it to inform its policy on Covid compensation and death certificates after a plea asked for ₹ 4 lakh for victims.
The SC had issued notice to the centre in response to two PILs filed by advocates Gaurav Kumar Bansal and Reepak Kansal seeking court's intervention for payment of Rs four lakh ex-gratia amount to Covid victims' families.
For all the latest News, Opinions and Views, download ummid.com App.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
