No amount paid to the next of kin can be treated as sufficient enough as compensation against loss of a precious life , however, what is paid as ex-gratia, compensation or any form of assistance is only to help those financially who lost their dear one , more so, as a result of a catastrophe of its own nature which engulfed each and every country and the horror and devastation of which continues even now in many parts of the world. It was decided by the Government that along with fighting the COVID pandemic , compensatory , rehabilitative and corrective measures would, side by side be taken , one of which was to provide monetary benefit to the families of those who got consumed by the dreaded virus . The amount payable in such cases was Rs.50,000 and while the scheme and its provisions for implementation were announced, the need was felt to have the paper work / formalities in respect of such claims to be quite simple but not compromising on authenticity and eligibilities of the claims. A foolproof but an effective mechanism was mooted to set up in this context hence respective Deputy Commissioners were entrusted the duty of settling the cases falling in their jurisdiction , all within a span of thirty days.
It is in quite bad taste looking to the aftermaths of the pandemic that hundreds of compensation cases pertaining to those whose some dearest one succumbed to the virus continue to be pending . A cursory analysis of the settled and pending cases would confirm our fears as only 2773 cases out of 4483 have been ”settled” so far. There could be delays due to wrong information for not completing the requisite formalities , some negligible number might have refused the compensation but generally speaking, delay in so many cases appears to have slipped down into the segment of rejections. What reasons, therefore, could there be for such delay , though not known , however, points towards a reckless response to , if not a deficit of empathy in the concerned authorities in settling these cases. That such an inordinate delay should take place despite explicit directions from the Supreme Court in the subject matter is still more unfortunate.
Needless to add, grounds were made smooth for payment of compensation across the country by the centre amending the provisions of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and in this connection, the Central Government’s share reportedly already stands remitted to all states and the UTs hence the alibi of arrangement of funds could no longer hold good in this context. On the contrary, the reasons of rejection of the claims are mandatorily to be made known and advised to the claimant. While the cases pertaining to the three waves of the virus gone still not having been settled, one wonders what about the provision of such compensation in respect of ”any future deaths ” as provided for in the directives of the Government. Any help /compensation or ex-gratia granted in principle by the Government must be released in time, belated payment and that too in respect of human tragedy of the sorts, meant serving bed tea late in the afternoon .
While to help Government officers in the pursuit of this humanitarian and noble cause, Jammu and Kashmir Legal Services Authority is providing whatever required support, however, that too has not brought about any change in the overall position of granting the compensation to the eligible families/ next to the kin of the deceased . What we feel is that there should be no scope whatsoever in granting compensation to a non-deserving claimant not complying with the eligibility , at the same time in cases which were genuine and expectedly are overwhelming in number, should not be subjected to such a long delay and the sanctioning authority should adopt an approach of interpreting a procedure or a condition of compliance in the interests of the claimant and not as a routine otherwise. A small token of the state gesture under reference , would definitely not retrieve the loss of a precious human life , it will mitigate the suffering to some extent only. We , therefore, expect a pragmatic approach by the concerned authorities.
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