Justice denied and buried
KASARGOD: Five years after the Supreme Court ordered the government of Kerala to give Rs 5 lakh each to all endosulfan survivors in three months, eight survivors have filed a contempt of court petition because they have not got any money.
A three-member bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud heard the petition on Thursday (February 24) and gave the state government four weeks to respond.
This is the second time survivors have moved the apex court accusing the government of ignoring the order dated January 10, 2017, which also asked the State to set up medical facilities to provide treatment and care to survivors with life-long health issues. "The government has made little effort to set up such centres," said KK Ashokan, secretary of Confederation of Endosulfan Victims Rights Collectives (CERV Collectives), which is legally helping the eight survivors in the apex court.
The seminal judgment in January 2017 was given by a bench comprising the then Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, and Justices N V Ramana and D Y Chandrachud on a petition filed by the DYFI, the youth wing of the CPM. "It is unfortunate that the LDF government chose to ignore the order," said Ashokan.
The state government, which got three months to implement the order, chose to split the 6,728 endosulfan survivors identified through special medical camps into five categories: bedridden patients, patients with intellectual disabilities, patients with physical disabilities, cancer, and 'others'.
The state government decided to give Rs 5 lakh each only to bed-ridden patients (371 persons) and patients with intellectual disabilities (1,499 persons).
For survivors with cancer (699) and physical disabilities (1,189), it decided to give only Rs 3 lakh each.
The government classified 2,970 survivors or 40% of the survivors as 'others' and decided not to compensate them.
Even by the government's own classification, 428 survivors with intellectual disabilities and those confined to bed have not got any compensation. Also, 320 survivors with cancer and physical disabilities have not got any compensation.
In 2019, four survivors, who were classified by the State as 'others' filed contempt petitions against the government for ignoring the order. The state government countered their argument saying the four survivors -- Archana, Afsal, Nisha, and Vijyalakshmi -- were being given medical care.
But the two-member bench comprising justices Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee was not impressed and pulled up the government for creating categories for survivors to deny compensation.
In their judgment dated July 3, 2019, the judges said: "The fact that they are undergoing treatment, as a result of being affected by endosulfan, is a clear indicator of the fact that they are entitled to the release of compensation in terms of the directions issued by this court on January 10, 2017.
"In the circumstances, we see no reason and justification for the government of Kerala to categorise these four individuals in the ‘Other’ category and to deny them payment of compensation."
The court then directed the state government to compensate the four children Rs 5 lakh each within two months.
Though stung by the order, the government chose to compensate only the four children who approached the court.
One year and seven months after the second ruling, 2,966 of the 2970 survivors classified as 'others' have not got a single rupee as compensation. "Should each of the poor survivors file contempt petitions to get what is their right," asked Ashokan.
CERV Collectives, a group of 12 NGOs working for endosulfan survivors and headed by filmmaker Prakash Bare, decided to help eight more survivors file a contempt petition against the state government.
According to the Supreme Court order, the government should set aside Rs 336.4 crore to compensate 6,728 survivors, officially identified as endosulfan-affected persons. But till now 3,714 persons have not got any compensation. The government still has an outstanding commitment worth Rs 217.06 crore to keep, Ashokan said.
Since the 2017 order, many endosulfan-affected persons have died and the government does have the names of the deceased. "Hopefully, the Supreme Court will put an end to the long wait for the survivors," he said.