HC directs State to pay Rs 50k solatium to widow

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the State government to pay Rs 50,000 solatium to a widow from Tirunelveli under the Distress Relief Scheme. A bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice GR Swaminathan, gave the verdict by dismissing an appeal filed by the Revenue Department challenging an order passed by a single judge of the court for granting the above relief amount.

They further advised the government to avoid filing such appeals in future.

Vasuki's husband Kumar, a daily-wage labourer, drowned on March 1, 2014, while bathing in a water channel at Mayanur in Karur when shutters of the dam were opened unexpectedly. Though Vasuki applied for solatium, her application was rejected in 2017 citing that her family annual income was Rs 36,000, which is more than the upper limit (Rs 24,000). Following this, she moved the court seeking relief.

A single judge of the court ruled in her favour noting that there was a revision in the norms of the scheme in 2015 as per which the upper limit was Rs 48,000 and not Rs 24,000. The same was challenged by the government in this appeal.

The division bench upheld the single judge's order saying that Vasuki's application ought to have been decided based on the revised norms which were in force at the time of consideration of the application in 2017.

They further opined that since Kumar died because of the sudden release of water by the Public Works Department, the State has a liability in the matter. Moreover, this is not a case in which an appeal should have been filed at all, they expressed. "We would expect the State to have a robust litigation policy so that the filing of such appeals is avoided," the judges remarked and dismissed the appeal.