Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2019-10-29

Seeking approval to include recipients of the Certificates of Death (issued to missing persons prior to the introduction of the Certificates of Absence) for interim relief

- The Cabinet has made a decision previously, to cancel the Certificates of Death issued to the missing persons and issue 'Certificates of Absence' for them, taking into consideration the interim reports of the Office on the Missing Persons and to make a monthly interim relief payment of Rs.6000/- to the families of such persons. However, since the period of validity of the 'Certificate of Absence' so issued after canceling the Certificate of Death is only for 2 years, the members of the families of such missing persons who have obtained certificates of death have to face various administrative, legal and socio‑economic challenges. As such, the joint proposal made by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of National Integration, Official Languages, Social Progress and Hindu Religious Affairs, to grant the families of missing persons a monthly interim relief payment of Rs.6,000/- which is given in accordance with 'Certificate of Absence', if in case a statement is included in a Certificate of Death issued under the Registration of Deaths (Temporary Provisions) Act, No.2 of 1995 to the effect that the reason for the death is 'disappearance' or treated as dead because the relatives have said that the cause of death is due to 'abduction' by unknown persons or in case the relevant Certificate of Death is issued under Section 2 of the Registration of Deaths (Temporary Provisions) Act, No.19 of 2010, was approved by the Cabinet.