Rly’s fast-track tribunal makes slow progress

Despite a special bench set up for the 11/7 bomb blast victims in the Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT), 50 per cent of cases relating to the blasts are still pending. It’s more than one year since the special bench was set up to dispose of all cases in less than six months.

Since the RCT had a backlog of cases extending to five years, the special bench was set up in January 2007 for the 11/7 victims, who needed funds for further medical procedures. But the victims complain that despite this, progress has been slow.

“The special bench sat twice or four times a month in the beginning,” said Laxman Samant, 60, a resident of Dahisar. “After we protested, they began sitting for an entire week in a month.”

Samant, who was injured in the Mahim blast, is due for a operation of his ear. But he is waiting for his final hearing at the RCT because he does not have money to pay for the operation.

Chirag Chauhan, 23, one of the grievously injured victims in the blasts, is also waiting for a hearing in the RCT. Chauhan was paralysed chest down.

Meanwhile, the RCT says the task is not as simple as it seems. According to the tribunal, many claims were filed late. Besides, for the claims of the injured, there are several procedures involved like a report from a medical board to establish the kind of injury and its severity.

Of the 1,048 victims of the blast, 187 died. With more than 500 cases still pending, beginning this year, the special bench will sit for two weeks in a month to speed up the process.

s_jyoti@dnaindia.net