Supreme Court issues notice on plea seeking formulation of plan ensuring rehabilitation of families destroyed amid covid-19 pandemic

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on a plea seeking direction for the formulation of a National level plan by the Central Government in tandem with the State Governments ensuring rehabilitation of families destroyed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AS Bopanna was hearing the plea further seeking waiver of the education fees of students who lost their parents to the pandemic.

The petition has been filed by Sudhir Kathpalia through Advocate Rajesh Kumar Chaurasia stating that "there are various news reports of kids being orphaned due to untimely demise of their parents and State needs to take urgent adequate steps to alleviate the hardships of the families and overall welfare of the orphan children."

The plea further raised the concern that "there could be huge displacement of families in case banks and financial institutions take legal recourse against the families who have lost their sole bread earner due to present pandemic."

It stated that the pain and agony caused by the loss of loved ones are immense, however, securing the future of those children must be our prime objective.

It further stated that "There would be cases where they have taken home loans or some other form of personal loans and due to sudden demise, their entire family would be put to burden with no means to earn and lack of jobs."

Case Title: Sudhir Kathpalia Vs. Union of India & Ors.