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The central government today submitted before the Supreme Court that the kin of those who died of COVID-19 will get Rs 50,000 compensation from the state governments. The court was also informed that the compensation will be paid for any future deaths as well. The government told the top court that states will source the funds from their disaster response funds , and will channel it through the District Disaster Management Authority or the district administrations.

“Compensation will be given to families of even those deceased who were involved in Covid relief operations or associated in preparedness activities,” reads the affidavit filed by the centre. It added that the cause of death needs to be certified as COVID-19 as per the Health Ministry guidelines.

Disaster response funds is given by Central to each state . in this 75% in central part and 25% is State contribution .


Those seeking the compensation will have to submit a claim form which will be issued by the state authorities along with required documents. It said that DDMA officials will have to ensure that the claim process including verification, sanction, and disbursal is people-friendly.

“All claims must be settled within 30 days of submission of the required documents, and disbursed through the Aadhaar-linked direct benefit transfer procedures,” it said.

The central government said that any grievance will be taken up for resolution by a district-level committee consisting of Additional District Collector, Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), Additional CMOH or the Principal or Head of Department of Medicine at a Medical College, and a subject expert.

Notably, a plea was filed in the Supreme Court seeking Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia payment to COVID victims’ families. The Centre had said that paying Rs 4 lakh as compensation to each victim’s family is not possible as it will dry up SDRF funds. The top court had then ruled that compensation must be paid to the family of those who succumbed to Covid-19 and had said the amount will be decided by the Centre.

India has so far registered 4,45,768 lakh Covid deaths as of 22nd September 2021.