Tamil Nadu government planning to compensate kin of 36,000 COVID victims, AG tells HC

The AG made the submission before the bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu, which was hearing a plea seeking compensation for the families who lost their members to coronavirus infection.

The petitioner, Vijaya Gopal, pointed out that the Supreme Court had directed the State governments to compensate such families. “It has been more than 500 days since the outbreak of the pandemic. We have lost so many people to the disease. However, the families have not received any such compensation as per the SC order,” the petitioner submitted.

Responding to this, the AG submitted that 36,220 people have died from the coronavirus in Tamil Nadu, and added that the State government was ready to compensate the families of the deceased.

“Several states in the country have decided to give Rs 50,000 as compensation to the families of the deceased. Tamil Nadu is also considering the same. The compensation of Rs 50,000 will be given to the families of people who died of COVID infection,” AG Shunmugasundaram said.

However, the bench noted that many states had given more than Rs 50,000 as compensation, and asked the State government to decide in a week whether it was ready to enhance the compensation.