Supreme Court directs random scrutiny of ex-gratia claims

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday permitted the Centre to conduct an inquiry into fake claims for ex-gratia compensation meant for family members of those who have lost their lives due to Covid-19 saying, "nobody can be permitted to avail the compensation by making a false claim or submitting the false certificate.

The government can verify 5 per cent of claims in four states -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh -- where the gap between number of claims and recorded deaths was wide, said a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna.

"We permit the National Disaster Management Authority/Union of India, through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to carry out the random scrutiny of 5 per cent of the claim applications by the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra at the first instance," the bench said.