CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered the State and the National Disaster Management Authority to respond to a plea seeking ex gratia to families which lost members to the pandemic.
According to the petitioner, R Vijayagopal, the Supreme Court was recently informed by the Central government that provision of ex gratia to Covid victims’ families was actively being considered. “The benefits of schemes stipulated under Section 12 (3) of the Disaster Management Act should reach the bereaved families,” the petitioner urged. The counsel for the petitioner claimed that the Supreme Court recently held that the minimum standards of relief issued under Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act have a “statutory force of law”.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy admitted the plea and initially observed that granting of compensation was a matter of subject policy. However, the counsel argued citing two orders of the Supreme Court, wherein the guidelines under the Disaster Management Act were proved to have a provision for providing compensation.
The bench recorded the submissions and ordered notice to the State and Central governments to file a detailed response to the plea. The court also issued notice on a similar plea to provide assistance to advocates who succumbed to Covid.