The Supreme Court came heavily on the PM-led National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Supreme Court directed the NDMA to quantify within six weeks the ex gratia amount to be paid to the families of nearly four lakh novel coronavirus victims and said the NDMA failed to discharge its statutory duty even though Covid-19 was declared a disaster under the Disaster Management Act a year ago. A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and M R Shah left it to the NDMA to decide what the ex gratia assistance should be but said the amount to be fixed by the NDMA and paid from the NDRF and SDRF would be over and above the ex gratia paid by states from other sources, including chief minister’s relief funds.