Beas tragedy: High Court also blames college for mishap
The court, besides the Larji dam authorities and officials (run by the H.P. State Electricity Board Limited), also held the staff of the VNR Vigyan Jyoti Institute of Engineering and Technology equally responsible in the matter.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday ordered an interim compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of 24 students of a Hyderabad engineering college, who were washed away in Beas river. The compensation will be jointly paid by the dam and the college management.
A division bench of Himachal HC, which treated a media report as public interest litigation, ordered the Larji Dam authorities and the VNR Vigyan Jyoti Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, to pay Rs 5 lakh per victim as interim compensation. "We deem it proper to exercise the guess work and award, by way of interim measure, Rs 5 lakh each in favour of the parents of each of the students, which shall be borne by the Institute and H.P. State Electricity Board Limited in equal shares, i.e. 50 per cent each. The amount be deposited by or before the next date (July 9)," the division bench comprising Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, Chief Justice and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan observed.
The court, besides the Larji dam authorities and officials (run by the H.P. State Electricity Board Limited), also held the staff of the VNR Vigyan Jyoti Institute of Engineering and Technology equally responsible in the matter. "We are of the view that, prima facie, there is evidence for holding that respondents have performed their duties negligently and because of their utter carelessness, callousness and negligence, 24 budding Engineers have lost their lives," the court observed.
On June 9, the Himachal Pradesh HC had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident. The interim order came after the state and the V.N.R. Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology filed a status report in connection with the case in the court Tuesday.
Besides, it asked the state government, the Larji authorities and the college management to submit a fresh status report by July 9. The students and the tour operator were swept away June 8 after water from a nearby hydropower project dam was released without warning. The engineering students were on a tour to Manali.