CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has informed the Madras High Court that the people who were affected by the 2018 Gaja cyclone in the Delta districts, but have not availed financial assistance, can submit an application for aid and it will be considered on merits.
State government pleader A Edwin Prabhakar made the submission before the first bench of Chief Justice KR Shriram and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq when two public interest litigation petitions filed by Kalaiselvan and Vellaisamy, seeking compensation for damages for all the villagers in the Delta districts, came up for hearing recently.
He stated that the state government gave compensation to various villagers who were hit by the cyclone and if anybody did not receive the compensation, they can submit the representation to the authorities concerned and it would be considered on merits.
The bench said that it is the state which shall decide a reasonable compensation. “But what is the compensation to be given is for the state to decide applying the provisions of law,” the bench said.
Recording the submissions, the bench disposed of the PILs. The petitioners had sought for an order to the state government to provide financial assistance to all the villagers affected by the cyclone in Delta districts.