The Supreme Court on Thursday said it was happy at the Centre’s decision to pay ₹50,000 compensation to families of people who died due to Covid-19, underlining that “we are certain what India has done, no other country in the world has done”.

“We are happy that something has been done to wipe out the tears of persons who have suffered due to Covid-19,” said a bench of justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna after reserving orders on two affidavits filed by the Centre in compliance with the top court’s June 30 ruling that families who lost their dear ones due to Covid-19 were entitled to ex gratia payment under the Disaster Management Act 2005.

The bench, which has posted the matter for October 4, said its order would clarify some aspects of the guidelines and make the process binding on the states as well.

On Wednesday, the Centre informed the court through an affidavit that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued guidelines on September 11 for payment of ₹50,000 ex-gratia for Covid deaths. A second affidavit by the Centre said the government has decided to extend the ex-gratia benefit to those who suffered Covid and died within a month by committing suicide.

Lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal, one of the two lawyers who filed the petition earlier this year that led the top court to order compensation, also produced a report by the National Institute Of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHAS) Bengaluru to underscore that deaths by suicide during the Covid waves exceeded the national average suicide rate reported in the country.

At Thursday’s hearing, solicitor general Tushar Mehta and additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati, who appeared for the Centre, said the Centre has agreed to give the ₹50,000 financial assistance to families of people who died by suicide within 30 days of testing Covid positive.

Mehta said, “If suicide takes place within 30 days of a person who tested Covid positive, irrespective of the cause of suicide, it will be treated as suicide due to Covid-19.”

He added that in cases where the death certificates and hospital records show “heart attack” or any other reason as the cause of death, the family of the deceased could seek rectification of the death certificate if there are contemporaneous records of past 30 days to show that the person had suffered or tested Covid-19 positive.

The court appreciated the Centre’s decision to notify the compensation scheme.

“We know about the financial constraints that are there as the government is spending money on procuring vaccines, migrants and providing food to vulnerable sections. Despite facing problems of a large population and financial constraints, we are certain what India has done, no other country in the world has done.”

The judges asked the Centre about the procedure for families who did not have the death certificate.

When the second national wave of Covid-19 peaked, the bench said, “Hospitals considered themselves monarchs. People were under tremendous pressure. And many persons who died in the hospital, their dead bodies were disposed of. Many a times, the hospitals do not give medical papers to the patient’s families.”

Mehta said that the guidelines proposed a district-level committee to deal with any dispute arising between the hospital and the family regarding the cause of death. Mehta aso said that the committee can be asked to call for the relevant records from the hospital in such cases.

“We will clarify it in our order as it will be in larger interest and will have a binding effect on states,” the Supreme Court said.

The Centre also sought another direction from the Court for states to set up the district-level committee within 30 days.

While fixing the ex gratia amount at ₹50,000 the stakeholders at the Centre considered the present uncertainty about likely future waves, the financial burden already existing on SDRF and Central government to provide succor to the vulnerable sections of society, and the allocation for timely and effective response to other natural disasters as well.

Solicitor general Mehta said, “The SDRF fund is being utilised for various purposes. We do not know about the future.” The bench asked Mehta, the Centre’s second senior-most law officer, if the third wave of the pandemic is over as it came across a statement by AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria in this regard.

“Sometimes such a statement creates a wrong impression. You know the people of this country. Everybody will say Covid is gone and there will be no fear. Still there are two to three lakh cases reported in the country. Technically speaking, we cannot say that the third wave has gone.”

Mehta said that in other countries even the fourth wave of the pandemic had begun, and unfortunately, people there are resorting to courts to protest wearing of masks and other restrictions associated with Covid-19. The court said that in an earlier decision, it had noted the importance of wearing masks by persons. “It is not your life only that you risk by not wearing masks but the lives of others. You have no right to play with the lives of others,” the bench held.