Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 10: Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Tashi Rabstan today directed Deputy Commissioner Srinagar to pay compensation to a flood victim.
The direction was issued in a petition filed by Syeda Begum, who submitted that her house at Ziyarat Batamallo suffered extensive damage during devastating floods of last year but she was denied ex-gratia and other benefits on the ground that her house remained locked from 1998 till date.
After hearing both the sides, DB observed, “it is an admitted fact that the petitioner is the owner of the house and the house was fully damaged as certificate to that effect was issued by the Executive Engineer, R&B Construction Division-II, Srinagar stating that the house is not safe for any habitation”.
“It is also an admitted fact that as per the flood relief scheme the fully damaged houses are to be paid Rs 75000 as relief by the Government. It is not mentioned in the scheme that person concerned should be residing in the house. In the absence of any such prescription in the scheme, even assuming that the petitioner was not residing in the house for any reason, the respondents are not justified in not paying the relief of Rs 75000 for the fully damaged house of the petitioner”, the DB said, adding “the narrow interpretation attempted to be given by the respondents cannot be accepted as the scheme is framed intending to give the benefit to the persons who suffered damage to their houses due to unprecedented floods”.
With these observations, Division Bench set-aside the order dated June 15, 2015 with a direction to District Disaster Management Authority, Srinagar through its Chairperson Deputy Commissioner Srinagar to release the sanctioned amount of Rs 75,000 in favour of the petitioner within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of copy of this order.
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