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SC pulls up Allahabad HC on Uttarakhand judgment

The Supreme Court has passed strictures on the Allahabad High Court for issuing sweeping directions with regard to payment of compensation to the victims of police firing and rape during the Uttarakhand agitation.

''We have no hesitation to hold that the judgment dated February 9, 1996, of the high court, which contained the sweeping directions, is unsustainable and has to be set aside,'' the court observed.

The strictures were passed by a three-judge bench comprising Justice K T Thomas, Justice D P Mohapatra and Justice U G Banerjee while allowing appeals by the Union of India, the Uttar Pradesh government and some of the aggrieved officials -- both from the police and district administration of Muzaffarnagar where the agitators were subjected to police firing and rape.

The Allahabad high court had issued the directions on a writ petition, filed by the Uttarakhand Sangharsh Samiti, after obtaining a report from the CBI which had been asked to investigate into the alleged incidents of firing and rape.

''The judges of the high court -- Justice Ravi S.Dhawan and Justice A B Srivastava -- should have avoided making observations on matters concerning trial of the accused pending in subordinate courts. The high court did more than that. Without trial and even without considering the evidence which may be adduced in the cases, the learned judges ordered the government to pay Rs 1 million each to dependents of all the persons who died in police firing. Compensation of Rs 1 million each were also given to the victims of molestation and Rs 50,000 each to the 398 persons who were detained by the police,'' the court noted in its 18-page verdict.

The court observed that the direction for payment of compensation was clearly unsustainable and was liable to be vacated. ''We are told that pursuant to the directions in the impugned judgment, amounts have been disbursed to all those persons who claimed it. We, therefore, make it clear that no further amount need be paid as compensation pursuant to the judgement of the high court. But, if any sum has been disbursed to the claimants, the state will not recover the same from them,'' the apex court added.

The court also made it clear that if any person had not made his or her claim or had not received compensation despite making a claim for it, it would be open to him or her to approach the competent court for compensation in accordance with the law.

The Supreme Court also took a very serious view of the direction issued by the high court regarding fund allotment for the development of certain regions of Uttarakhand.

''The magnitude of the financial burden for complying with the said direction has been approximately estimated as amounting to several hundred millions of rupees. The money has to come out of the state coffers,'' the court observed.

As the learned judges of the high court did not indicate how the government should mobilise the whopping amount, it was unable to concur with the direction, the SC bench said.

UNI

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