India's Supreme Court today ruled saying the federal government must pay compensation to the families of those who succumbed to Covid-19.

It said the amount of compensation will be decided by government, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

A few days ago, the Indian government told the apex court that Rs 4 lakh compensation cannot be paid to families of those who lost their lives to Covid-19 as it would exhaust the disaster relief funds.

A bench consisting of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice MR Shah came up with the order where it said the Indian National Disaster Management Authority has a statutory obligation to frame guidelines for recommending minimum ex-gratia assistance for the victim.

The bench was adjudicating on petitions which had sought directions to the Indian government and state governments to provide ex-gratia compensation to families of Covid-19 victims.