Assam: Gauhati HC asks CS to reply to query on non-payment of compensation
Assam Victim Compensation Scheme, 2012
Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court today reiterated the observation on a ‘serious lack of coordination’ between the Home and Finance Departments. The HC directed the Chief Secretary to respond to the question of why the required money for the disbursement of compensation to the victims under the Scheme of 2012 has not been made available.
The division bench of Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Suman Shyam made the observation while hearing a Public Interest Litigation case (PIL/7/2024) filed by Sandeep Chamaria, raising concerns about the non-payment of compensation to the victims under the Assam Victim Compensation Scheme, 2012 (hereinafter to be referred to as ‘Scheme of 2012’).
During the hearing today, the counsel appearing for the Assam State Legal Services Authority (ASLSA), the disbursing authority for the funds released by the state government for compensation to victims, informed the Court that against the amount of around Rs. 44 crore demanded, only an amount of Rs. 9 crore has been provided under the Scheme of 2012.
In an earlier submission, the ASLSA’s counsel informed the HC that the state government has not provided any funds to be disbursed to the victims for the years 2019–20 to 2022–23. However, in 2023, only Rs. 9,00,00,000 (nine crore) was provided by the government for the purpose of disbursing compensation.
After hearing the counsel appearing for the Finance Department as well as the Home Department, the HC offered the view that despite making observations on April 5, 2024, there is ‘serious lack of coordination’ between the two departments. The court had then commented that a ‘very sorry state of affairs’ was apparent in the state government after it emerged that compensation to victims had not been paid due to a lack of coordination between the Home and Finance departments. It was apparent that such a lack of coordination continued to persist, resulting in the non-payment of compensation.
Citing such circumstances, the HC said it was ‘forced’ to direct the Chief Secretary to the Assam government to file an affidavit indicating as to why the required money has not been made available for disbursement of compensation to the victims under the Scheme of 2012 and the steps proposed to be taken to release the amount at the earliest.
The affidavit has to be filed by the next date of hearing on July 16, 2024.
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