Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam chief secretary to submit an affidavit citing the reason why the requisite funds have not been made available for disbursement of compensation to the victims under the Assam Victim Compensation Scheme, 2012.
A bench of the High Court also asked the Assam government to apprise the court of the steps proposed to be taken to release the amount at the earliest to the victims of the compensation scheme.
The High Court’s directive came during a hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue of non-payment of compensation to the victims under the Assam Victim Compensation Scheme, 2012
The Court had, on April 5, 2024, asked the Assam government to “come with a definite proposal for release of the requisite funds.”
“This writ petition filed by the petitioner in the public interest raising concern for non-payment of compensation to the victims under the Assam Victim Compensation Scheme, 2012. An affidavit is filed on behalf of the Assam State Legal Services Authority (ASLSA) wherein it is stated that as of 17-02-2024, the requirement of victim compensation fund in the State of Assam is around Rs 24,16,18,032,” the Court stated while passing the order in April.
“It is submitted by the learned counsel appearing for the ASLSA that the State has not provided any fund to be disbursed to the victims for the years 2019-20 to 2022-23. However, in the year 2023 only Rs 9,00,00,000 have been provided to disburse compensation amongst the victims under the victim compensation scheme,” it stated.
“We are forced to comment that it is a very sorry state of affairs that the compensation is not being disbursed to the victims for lack of funds. The state has its primary responsibility to provide funds for disbursement of compensation to the victims,” it had remarked.
However, on May 20, 2024, the counsel appearing for the state finance department, submitted that during the joint meeting held between the finance and law departments, it was agreed that the law department would submit a proposal regarding the disbursement of the requisite funds to the victims under the Scheme of 2012.
It was further submitted that after submission of the requisition from the law department, the finance department would consider the same and take effective steps for the release of the requisite funds to be disbursed to the victims under the compensation scheme.
However, during the hearing on Monday, the counsel appearing for the Assam State Legal Services Authority (ASLSA) informed the court that against the demand of around Rs 44 crore, only Rs 9 crore has been provided under the Scheme of 2012.
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“It appears that there is a lack of coordination between the home as well as the finance department. In such circumstances, we are forced to direct the chief secretary to the state of Assam to file an affidavit indicating 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 said affidavit be filed by the next date of hearing (July 16, 2024),” the court said.
The Court further said that by the next date of hearing, with the coordination between the concerned departments, the state government shall come up with a definite proposal for the release of the requisite funds to be disbursed to the victims under the scheme.
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