KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Saturday upheld the State Human Rights Commission’s order to pay compensation to a person for a violation of human rights. The court issued the order on the petition filed by Kottayam municipality seeking to quash the order of Kerala State Human Rights Commission directing it to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to a street vendor for summarily evicting him and taking away the articles kept for sale.
The incident took place in 2015 when a street vendor was evicted by employees of the Kottayam municipality. According to a report, a sanitation worker from the municipality asked the vendor to remove a waste kit placed near where he was stationed with his wares. The vendor refused to say that he was not responsible and this enraged the worker. After some time when the street vendor went for buying medicine, 15 employees of the municipality came in a garbage collection vehicle and took away all the clothes kept by him for sale.
The street vendor said he sustained a loss of Rs 2,34,000 and has to be compensated by the municipality. Considering the facts, the Commissioner directed the municipality to pay compensation. It was challenged by the municipality before HC. But the High Court rejected the argument and directed the municipal body to pay the compensation within two months.