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Hight Court to intervene in compensation for Pune hoarding collapse victims
A division bench of justices AS Oka and AS Gadkari was hearing a petition filed by activist Qaneez Sukhrani relating to the incident of October 5, 2018
A Pune-based social activist's Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has landed the Indian Railways in a soup with the Bombay High Court (HC). The higher court's intervention, however, may lead to better compensation for the families of the victims of the hoarding collapse incident that took place on October 5 and claimed four lives and injured 11.
While hearing a PIL by activist Qaneez Sukhrani, a division bench of Bombay HC has asked the court to file a suo motu PIL in the matter of compensation for the victims.
The Bombay High Court (HC) on Friday said a suo moto public interest litigation (PIL) against the Indian Railways was necessary because the compensation it had offered to victims of the hoarding collapse incident, was insufficient.
"We had filed a PIL against the illegal political hoardings. An order has also been passed to issue show cause notices to a few political parties. The court took the matter seriously after the hoarding collapse," said Ravindra Pachundkar, advocate representing Sukhrani.
A division bench of justices AS Oka and AS Gadkari was hearing a petition filed by Pune-based activist Qaneez Sukhrani relating to the incident of October 5, 2018. Advocate Pachundkar told the court that the families of the four victims received ₹5 lakh each as compensation while those with critical injuries got ₹1 lakh each from the Railways.
The court took serious note of this and asked the railways if it had taken into consideration factors such as the annual income of the dead persons and the amount spent on treatment to arrive at the compensation figure. Since the compensation amounts suggested the railways had not followed proper procedure, the court deemed it necessary to file a suo moto PIL in which the families of the victims would be party.
The registrar will gather the necessary information and give it to the Naresh Patil, chief justice. It will then be presented to a collegium. The respondents, besides the Indian Railways, will be decided by the collegium, said advocate Pachundkar.
