High Court
Case Details
PIL 45/2013 B E F O R E HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE A.M. SAPRE,THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE A. K. GOSWAMI (By AM Sapre,CJ)
Decision
Two petitioners claim to be the local residents of Kamrup District Assam and are practicing lawyers. They also claim to be actively engaged in various kinds of social work in their area and have approached this court for invoking extraordin ary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India relating to Publ ic Interest Litigation (PIL). Their basic grievance in this PIL was that on 12 .2.2013 a riot erupted in the a rea called (cid:28)Rabha Hasong Autonomous District Council Areas in Districts of Goalp ara, Assam (cid:29). In this riot, several persons died and suffered injuries. The affec ted riot persons who survived and those who lost their houses had to be shifted to riot relief camps. Since they (those who lost their lives and their survivors and those who suffered injuries) were not being paid any monetary compensation as per several schemes framed by the State in this regard and there was no one t o safeguard and enforce their fundamental, legal and constitutional rights qua s tate as guaranteed to them under the Constitution of India and hence, this PIL w as filed by these two lawyers espousing their cause for grant of appropriate rel iefs in favour of riot affected persons. A notice of the writ petition was issued to the respondents. In response to the notice issued to the respondents - State and their authorities, a detailed retur n on affidavit is filed by the authorities concerned for the State. This is what is stated in the counter affidavit by the respondent in Para 3 to 8: (cid:28)3. That the humble deponent begs to state that as per Government Guidelines the camp inmates were provided financial assistance @ Rs.1000/- per family for purchasing cloths & utensils (Rs.500/- for cloths + Rs.500/- for utensils) and R ehabilitation Grant @ Rs.20000/- & 10 feet GCI Sheets 21 pieces (i.e. 3 bundles) per family and financial assistance @ Rs.2700/- per family (Rs.1300/- for purch asing of clothes + Rs.1400/- for purchasing of utensils = Rs.2700/-) to the vict ims of families whose houses were fully burnt. Further, ex-gratia grant @ Rs.5.00 lakh (Rupees five lakh) were paid to each of the NOK of victim family. Financial assistance @ Rs.50000.00 (Rupees fif ty thousand) and @ Rs.10000.00 (ten thousand) to each of the grievous & minor in jured persons respectively were also provided. The Superintendent, Civil Hospita l, Goalpara had provided all necessary treatment, medicines etc. to all patients of the Panchayat election violence. That the humble deponent begs to state that Tara hand pump, H.T.W., wate 4. r supply through tanks with refilling facilities to few shelter camps were provi ded for pure drinking water. Disinfection of drinking water supply sources by us ing bleaching powder to prevent outbreak of any epidemic & Low Cost Toilet were also provided to the victims of Panchayat election violence, 2013. The Project D irector, DRDA, Goalpara provided jobs to the victim of Panchayat Violence under MNREGA and as per direction the Govt. was moved for releasing of fund for constr uction of 79 Nos. IAY houses, whose houses were fully gutted in the Panchayat el ection violence, 2013. Medical teams were sent regularly to the camps for genera l check up and treatment of the persons was provided and was whenever required w as coordinated with the Joint Director Health Services, Goalpara. Free Medicines were also regularly provided to the camp inmates. Letter dated 6/5/13 issued by the Superintendent, Civil Hospital, Goalpa 5. That the humble deponent begs to state that the Assam State Commission f or Protection of Child Rights had also visited and inspected all the relief camp s on 02.3.2013 and interacted with the inmates. The Commission found the Gratuit ous Relief items and other facilities adequate and was satisfied with the servic e rendered by the District Administration. The report submitted by the Commissio n is enclosed herewith. 6. That the humble deponent begs to state that with regard to the security of the inmates in relief camps, proper and adequate security were provided to al l camps. In this connection the report of Superintendent of Police, Goalpara reg arding detailment of armed Police personnel in relief camps in annexed herewith. 7. That the humble deponent begs to state that adequate quantity of food it ems, drinking water, proper sanitation, firewood, medical facilities were provid ed to the inmates and there was no negligence in the part of District Administra tion. It may be also mentioned that vehicles and financial help were also provid ed to two H.S.L.C. examinees from the relief camps and it is a pleasure to note that they have passed the H.S.L.C. examination. 8. That the humble deponent begs to state that it may be mentioned that imm ediately after the violence a total number 18896 persons took shelter in 22 (twe nty two) relief camps, but at present there are no relief camps as rehabilitatio n grant were provided to all the affected families. Time to time monitoring was being done and necessary steps were taken and directions issued from time to tim e to make improvements and rectification wherever deficit or unsatisfactory perf ormance was noted. In this connection, the relevant communications/ reports/ min utes are annexed herewith as indicated below: i) ra marked as ANNEXURE-A. ii) long with its report marked as ANNEXURE-B; iii) URE-C; iv) NEXURE-D; V) marked as ANNEXURE-E; vi) marked as ANNEXURE-F; vii) a marked as ANNEXURE-G; viii) ra along with its summary report marked as ANNEXURE-H; Letter dated 6/3/13 issued by the Administrative Officer, Assam State Co ix) mmission for Protection of Child Rights along with its report marked as ANNEXURE -I. (cid:29) Mere perusal of the contents of aforequoted counter affidavit would go to show t hat the State has attended to the grievances of the riot affected persons and ha s, accordingly, paid to each affected person a sum of Rs. 5 lakh as ex-gratia pa yment in addition to providing any other benefits as detailed therein for their livelihood. Since the grievance of the affected persons has adequately been met by the State authorities, we do not find any ground to keep this petition pending for passin g any directions in this regard. In other words, the cause of action to prosecut W.T.Message dated 6/3/2013 issued by the Project Director, DRDA, Goalpar Minutes of the meeting held on 26/3/13 in the office of the DC,Goalpara Letter dated 10/6/13 issued by the Jt. Director, Health Services, Goalpa Letter dated 5/6/13 issued by the Ex. Engineer (PHE) Goalpara Division a Letter dated 6/6/13 issued by the Project Director, DRDA marked as ANNEX Letter dated 13/3/13 issued by the DC-cum-Ex.Director, DRDA marked as AN Minutes of the meeting held on 14/5/13 in the office of the DC,Goalpara e this PIL petition stands apparently satisfied and now no more subsists. Though learned counsel for the petitioners made attempt to urge the issues that inadequate compensation was paid to the affected persons, and some more benefits should have been given to each of them in addition to what has been given to th em, we do not find any merit in this submission. We, however, make it clear that the disposal of this writ petition would not co me in the way of the affected persons from claiming any other benefits of any na ture from the respondents or against any other authority or person, if it is per missible in law for them to claim for their benefit and while adjudicating any s uch claim, the ex-gratia payment made to them would not be taken into considerat ion unless law itself provides for taking the same into consideration for adjudi cation of their claim. It is with these observations and safeguarding the rights of the riot affected p ersons, we find no ground to entertain the writ petition which fails and is, acc ordingly, dismissed. Any security amount, if deposited by the petitioners for filing this writ petiti on as per Rules, be refunded to them after making proper verification. No cost.