The Supreme Court has directed the Kerala government to pay compensation to four minors who are victims of the endosulfan tragedy in Kasargod. The top court has also given the state government a deadline of two months to pay the compensation. The order came on July 3, in response to the 2017 contempt petition filed by Remya P and others against Kerala Chief Secretary KM Abraham.
The amount paid to the four victims should be in accordance with the SC order of January 10, 2017, of compensating every affected person with Rs 5 lakh.
KM Abraham had filed an affidavit, which stated that all four children have been included in the ‘Other’ category of a list of endosulfan victims identified by an expert medical panel, and this would make them ineligible for National Human Rights Commission recommended financial compensation.
“The above extract from the affidavit leaves no manner of doubt that each of the four individuals falls in the category of affected individuals. The fact that they are undergoing treatment, as a result of being affected by endosulfan, is a clear indicator of the fact that they are entitled to the release of compensation in terms of the directions which were issued by this Court on 10 January 2017, while disposing of the writ petition,” the court order said.
It also said that ‘we see no reason and justification for the Government of Kerala to categorize these four individuals in the ‘Other’ category and to deny them payment of compensation’.
The order adds: “We accordingly direct that the compensation in terms of the order of this Court dated 10 January 2017 shall be released to the natural guardians of the four minors within a period of two months from today against proper identification.”
In 2017, the state government had conducted a medical camp to find out the number of people affected by the spraying of endosulfan. Out of the 6800 who applied, the list produced by the specialists, of people who could possibly be affected by endosulfan, contained only 1905 names. This had further come down to 287 and after continuous protests by victims and their guardians who’d come to Thiruvananthapuram from Kasargod, 527 more names were added.