In Brief
The Supreme Court fixed a deadline for COVID-19 death compensation claims: sixty days from the order date for deaths before 20 March 2022, and ninety days from the date of death for future deaths. The Court permitted the NDMA to conduct random scrutiny of 5% of claim applications to detect false claims. Under Section 52 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, making false claims for relief is punishable by up to two years imprisonment and a fine. The Court rejected the suggestion of four weeks as too restrictive, recognizing families' need for recovery time, while cautioning that false or fraudulent claims would be criminally prosecuted.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.