The Madras High Court has directed the State government to file its reply on the plea to increase the interest rate fixed on the compensation awarded by the one-man commission to the victims of Kumbakonam school fire tragedy.
The First Bench of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan passed the direction on the plea moved by Inbaraj, on behalf of the victims and their families. He sought the court to enhance the interest rate fixed from 6 to 9 per cent. The victims wanted the court to direct the State government to compute the interest from the date of the incident, instead from the date of filing the claim petition.
Earlier, the petitioner sought for enhancement of the compensation recommended to the victims and their families by Justice R. Venkataraman Commission. But when the plea came up for hearing on Wednesday, the counsel for the petitioner submitted that he would confine to the aspects of enhanced interest rate and date of computation.
Noting that the State government should sympathetically consider the plea to grant more interest, the Bench said: “The compensation is really determined keeping in mind the date of the accident in 2004.” The Bench then posted the plea to August 30 for the government to file its reply.
