1. Don’t deny Covid-19 compensation on technical grounds: SC

Directing all state governments to appoint a nodal officer not below the rank of a Deputy Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat to coordinate the ex-gratia payment for Covid-19 deaths, the Supreme Court (SC) asked them to accept even offline applications.

Who’s to blame?

• The SC’s directions on accepting all applications, “whether filed online or offline”, came after the court noted that Maharashtra had rejected 61,848 claims for Covid-19 ex-gratia compensation — with many of the claims rejected because they were submitted offline.
• Blasting the

  state government

  , the court asked its counsel to tell Maharashtra’s “Chief Minister that they are not doing charity,” and that “as a welfare state it is their duty” to give the compensation as directed.

For one and all

• The SC said that “wherever the claims are rejected on the ground that they are filed offline, the State Government is to review that decision within one week” It reiterated its earlier directions that no claim should be rejected on technical grounds and in case there are technical issues, claimants should be offered an opportunity to correct them.
• Noting that “the ultimate goal of the state as a welfare state is to provide some solace and compensation to the victim families”, the SC directed that compensation should be paid “within a period of 10 days from receipt of claims.”