KASARAGOD
The order of the Supreme Court directing the Kerala Government to pay the compensation within four weeks has come as a huge relief to the victims of endosulfan in Kasaragod.
Eight endosulfan victims had filed a contempt petition, accusing the government of denying the compensation of ₹5 lakh and medical support despite the recommendation of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in 2010 and a Supreme Court order in 2019.
The counsel appearing for the Kerala Government sought a period of four weeks to enable the State to comply with the order.
In an order on Friday, a Division Bench comprising Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Aniruddha Bose said, “To obviate further exercise of the contempt jurisdiction, the contempt proceeding shall stand over to May 13, 2022, and the compliance be effective in the meantime”.
M.V. Ravindran, one of the victims, who filed the contempt petition, said that subsequent governments in the State had cheated them by denying the compensation and proper health care.
“We were forced to approach the court as all the pleas for compensation and health care facilities fell on deaf ears. It was our fundamental right to get the compensation, which the government had denied us,” he said.
K.G. Baiju, another petitioner, said that the government had denied them their right to get compensation for the past 12 years.
“We are facing severe health and financial problems. But the authorities and government failed in their duty to protect our basic right to get treatment and compensation by citing various reasons,” he said. It is only after the intervention of the court that the government sanctioned ₹200 crore to pay the victims.
“It is unfortunate that the victims are still waging a legal war to get their compensation, which is their fundamental rights,” said K.K. Ashokan, secretary of the Confederation of Endosulfan Victims’ Rights Collective, which is helping the survivors legally.
The delay in paying the compensation could have been avoided had the government not bailed out the Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK), which sprayed endosulfan here. As per the agreement with the NHRC, the PCK was asked to pay about ₹87 crore. After it paid over ₹53 crore, the government passed an order and took over the responsibility to pay the rest of the compensation, he said.
Activist M.A. Rahman, another member of the confederation, said the court order was a victory of the victims.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to disburse a compensation of ₹5 lakh each to 3,714 endosulfan victims in Kasaragod after verifying their eligibility.
