GAURAV KUMAR BANSAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Pursuant to a detailed judgment and order dtd. 30/6/2021, this Court directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the appropriate authority in paragraph 16 as under:

(2.) Under the above directions in terms of para 16(1), the NDMA was required to recommend guidelines for ex-gratia assistance on account of loss of life to the family members of the persons who died due to Covid-19, as mandatory under Sec. 12 (iii) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (for short, 'DMA 2005') for the minimum standards of relief to be provided to the persons affected by disaster - Covid-19 Pandemic, over and above the guidelines already recommended for the minimum standards of relief to be provided to persons affected by Covid-19, within a period of six weeks from 30/6/2021. This Court also specifically observed that what reasonable amount to be offered towards ex-gratia assistance is left to the wisdom of the NDMA which may consider determining the amount taking into consideration the observations made in the detailed judgment and order dtd. 30/6/2021, such as, requirement/availability of the fund under the NDRF/SDRF for other reliefs and the priorities determined by the National Authority/Union Government and the fund required for other minimum standards of relief and fund required for prevention, preparedness, mitigation and recovery and other reliefs to carry out the obligation under DMA 2005.

(3.) By order dtd. 16/8/2021, this Court extended the time for framing the guidelines as per the directions contained in paragraph 16(1) of the judgment dtd. 30/6/2021, by a further period of four weeks.