MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Thursday sought a response from the state government on whether it intends to disburse Rs 20 lakh pending compensation, out of the Rs 50 lakh recommended by the Aruna Jagadeesan commission, each to the victims of police firing during the anti-Sterlite protest in Thoothukudi in 2018.
Hearing a batch of petitions pending before the court in connection with the above incident, a bench of justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel sought several information, such as the government order appointing Justice Aruna Jagadeesan commission, the actual reference made to the commission, whether the commission’s report was accepted, along with the action taken on the report, whether the family members of the victims were granted government employment, among others. The judges also wanted to know the status of the disciplinary proceedings initiated against the erring officials. The said details were directed to be submitted by the next hearing on August 13.
Earlier, the counsels representing the petitioners pointed out that though the commission’s report indicted 13 officers, including the then collector, the CBI had not implicated any of those officers and merely chargesheeted a police inspector. They also contended that the commission had recommended Rs 50 lakh compensation to the victims’ families, but only Rs 30 lakh has been paid so far and the families are entitled to the balance amount.
However, they refused to express any opinion on the CBI’s investigation since a protest petition filed against the chargesheet is pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Madurai.
