2011 serial blasts: Bombay High Court orders state to hand over compensation by Wednesday

The Bombay High Court on Monday issued a contempt notice to the state chief secretary for failing to hand over compensation to the kin of victims of the 2011 serial blasts.

A division bench of judges Abhay Oka and Girish Kulkarni observed that "prima facie there was contempt of order" and they directed the government to pay the amount through cheques or demand drafts by 5pm on Wednesday.

The court also asked the government to submit a report on this by the next hearing in the matter on October 6.

Where did govt fail?
A month ago, the high court had directed the state government to authorize the Thane collector to disburse the compensation of Rs3 lakh – generally given by the Centre – to the kin of the serial bomb blasts that happened on July 13, 2011 at Zaveri Bazar and some other places.

The amount was to be paid along with interest from October 18, 2011, when the compensation was announced, and the payment was to be made within four weeks.

Who took up the case?
The order was issued on a public interest petition by Prakash Seth, a jeweller from Zaveri Bazar, who pleaded that the kin of four victims from Thane and Ulhasnagar be given the compensation as soon as possible.

Rahul Kadam, advocate for the petitioner, argued that the families of Himmatbhai Gadia, Baburam Das and Bhupatbhai Navadia of Thane and Lalchand Ahuja of Ulhasnagar had not received the compensation till date. There were others too, who had not been given the compensation, he said.

A total 26 people were killed and about 130 injured in the coordinated explosions at Zaveri bazar, Opera House and Dadar (West).

What is the petitioner's reaction?
Seth said the government is known to act swiftly when it wants, otherwise it will sit on matters endlessly. "Some years ago, just before the election code of conduct was announced, the government issued as many as 57 GRs in a single day. In the case of the Bharat Ratna for Sachin Tendulkar also the decision was taken within 24 hours. Whereas the families of the blast victims have been waiting for over three years," Seth said.

What was govt's excuse?
On a query by the court, additional government pleader Samir Patil said the Thane collector had sent a reminder to the principal secretary to release the compensation amount. But there was no response from the government.

The government had previously said that the Rs3 lakh was not disbursed by the collector as he did not have the authority to disburse more than Rs1.5 lakh.

What was petitioner's counter?
The advocate for the petitioner, however, informed the court that the central government had carried out the necessary amendment to the "Central scheme for assistance to civilian victims/family of victims of terrorist / communal and Naxal violence" and given powers to the collector to disburse Rs3 lakh.

The court had also asked whether Rs3 lakh was enough compensation and expressed dissatisfaction with the system of awarding a standard compensation to families of those killed.

Is compensation amount sufficient?
In another public interest petition, advocate Rajeshwar Panchal sought that a just and fair amount should be given as compensation to the families of those killed in bomb blasts.

The petition contended that the income of the deceased, the social status of families and number of dependents should be taken into account when deciding the amount of compensation.

The advocate pointed out that the Motor Vehicles Act and the Workmen's Compensation Act laid down a formula to work out such compensation.

The judges suggested that government lay out a workable policy for determining the quantum of compensation through amendments to the Workmen's Compensation Act and the Motor Vehicles Act.