CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered the government to immediately disburse Rs 5.29 crore compensation dues for the tribal people affected by the police highhandedness during the hunt for forest brigand Veerappan.
The order was issued by the first bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan while hearing the petitions filed by the affected persons.
The court expressed displeasure over the long delay in distributing the compensation to the tribal people. The bench said there are enough grounds for initiating contempt of court proceedings against the authorities concerned for not paying the compensation even a year after the court issued orders for distributing the compensation amount.
It also questioned the rationale behind the state filing cases against giving compensation to the affected persons.The counsel for the government submitted that Rs 1.2 crore was distributed to 38 people and the government has created infrastructure facilities at a cost of Rs 8 crore.