The Central government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that it would not be able to give Rs 4 lakh compensation to kin of each person who died of Covid-19 under the Disaster Management Act. The Centre’s affidavit came in response to a PIL seeking “minimum standards of relief” and ex-gratia payment to Covid-19 deceased.
The Centre in its affidavit also said that deaths of persons with Covid infection will be classified as Covid death irrespective of co-morbidities unless a clear alternative cause like poisoning, accidental trauma or acute myocardial infarction led to death.
All deaths with a diagnosis of Covid-19, irrespective of co-morbidities, are to be classified as deaths due to the virus. The only exception could be where there is a clear alternative cause of death, that cannot be attributed to Covid-19 (e.g. accidental trauma, poisoning, acute myocardial infarction, etc), where Covid-19 is an incidental finding, the affidavit said.
The Centre government in its affidavit said that there is no precedent of giving ex-gratia for an ongoing disease or for any disaster event of long duration, extending for several months or years. In fact, granting ex-gratia for one disease, while denying the same for those accounting for a larger share of mortality, would not be fair or proper.
It would create unfairness and invidious discrimination between persons suffering from one disease and those suffering from another. Further, unlike floods, earthquake, cyclone, etc, during the Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of crores of rupees have been spent by the Central and state governments on prevention, testing, treatment, quarantine, hospitalisation, medicines and vaccination, etc, and it is still continuing. It is not known how much more is required. Thus, Central and state governments are taking all possible measures to prevent and prepare for future waves of Covid-19, it added.
The pandemic has caused more than 3,85,000 deaths, a number which is likely to increase further. It exceeds the number of deaths in any other natural disaster in the past, in the country. These deaths have affected families from all classes—the rich and poor, professionals and informal workers, and trader and farmers, the affidavit said.