The bench questioned how you could provide Rs 10 lakh in relief to each of the relatives of the hooch catastrophe victims. The Madras High Court on Friday questioned the reasoning behind providing such relief aid, calling the compensation amount of '10 lakh' apiece to the families of the victims of the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy 'large'. When a public interest litigation brought by Mohamed Ghouse of Chennai asking the court to overturn the state government's order giving compensation came up for hearing, the first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq highlighted the issue.
The bench questioned how you could provide a massive relief of Rs 10 lakh to each of the relatives of the hooch catastrophe victims. It was believed that while compensation might be granted to the families of road accident victims, offering such a large sum to fictitious liquor victims could not be justified. The bench instructed the counsel to receive instructions from the government within two weeks on rethinking the amount distribution, requesting that the state devise a mechanism other than giving compensation for rehabilitating the families.The petitioner said that the solatium should be awarded exclusively to accident victims and not to relatives of individuals who have performed a 'illegal act' of consuming illicit booze for'satisfaction.'
The government's directive to compensate victim's families is 'unreasonable' and 'arbitrary,' and those who died as a result of illegal booze use should not be recognized as victims, he claimed. He questioned why victims of fires or other calamities receive less solatium. The petitioner stated that the users of illicit booze are neither liberation fighters or social activists who have given their lives for the cause of the public.
