Court orders Gujarat to disburse compensation for the 2002 riot affected

The Times of India

HC orders Guj to disburse Centre's riot package in 8 weeks
14 May 2009, 1752 hrs IST, PTI

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court on Thursday ordered the state government to disburse within eight weeks the Rs 262.44 crore it received from
the Centre as relief package for 2002 post-Godhra riot victims.

The order was passed by division bench of Chief Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Justice C K Buch while hearing a PIL.

The PIL was filed by Gangan Sethi, a member of Special Monitoring Group appointed by the National Human Rights Commission, and Yusuf Shaikh, convener of Vadodara-based NGO Antarik Visthapit Hakk-Rakshak Samiti.

The PIL filed in December last year had contended that Gujarat government has failed to disburse the Centre's relief package to family of over 1,169 people who died during the riots and over 2,549 victims who were injured in post-Godhra violence.

During an earlier hearing the state government had submitted before the court that it has got instructions from the Election Commission not to disburse the amount among riot victims till the elections was over.

The Centre had released 19.05% (Rs 50 crore) of the total amount at the end of 2008, following which the state government had ordered all district collectorates in January 2009 to disburse the amount within a month to the victims.

During the hearing the Centre had maintained that it had withheld Rs 212.44 crore because the Gujarat government had not reported utilization of the first installment of Rs 50 crore that were released in 2008.

The Centre had announced to provide additional ex-gratia towards relief and rehabilitation to victims of 2002 communal riots in Gujarat on September 11, 2007.

According to the state government, as many as 29,467 families were affected and 11,237 houses got damaged in urban area while 18,230 residential properties were either demolished or damaged in rural areas across the state during the post-Godhra riots.

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The Hindu
May 14, 2009

Gujarat riot victims to receive compensation soon

Ahmedabad (IANS): The Gujarat High Court on Thursday ordered the State government to expedite distribution of compensation amounting to Rs 262.44 crore to the victims of communal violence of 2002.

The court order came following a bunch of petitions filed by the riot victims saying they were yet to receive the compensation released by the Central government through the State government.

A State government representative told the court during the hearing of the petitions on Thursday that the State government could not distribute the compensation as the model code of conduct was in place during the Lok Sabha elections.

The restrictions under the code of conduct will be lifted next week.

As many as 1,180 people were killed in the sectarian violence after the burning of a coach of the Sabarmati Express left 59 dead at the Godhra railway station in Gujarat on February 27, 2002.