SC allows Centre to probe fake ex-gratia claims on death of kin due to Covid-19

New Delhi, Mar 24: The Supreme Court today allowed the Centre to probe fake ex-gratia claims on the death of kin due to Covid-19.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna said that the Centre can verify 5 per cent of claims in four states, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala, which had a wide difference between a number of claims and recorded deaths.

The Apex Court also set a 60-day deadline for claims about deaths that occurred up to March 28, 2022, and a deadline of 90 days for all future claims.

Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court had indicated that 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".

The top court had earlier said that its directions for payment of compensation to the family members of the persons, who died due to COVID-19, are very clear and there was no requirement at all of constituting the scrutiny committee to award compensation.