The NHRC direction came in accordance to the recommendations made by a judicial commission of enquiry headed by retired High Court judge Justice A S Naidu. The Commission had suggested in its report that an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh each to be paid as damage to the family of 40 deceased although 41 persons had died in the tragedy.
The Commission was not inclined to pay damage to a lone deceased as he was one of the illicit vendors of the liquor. Although, the State Government accepted the report of the Commission, it decided not to pay compensation to the families of the victims. A human rights activist from Varanasi, however, approached the NHRC seeking a direction to the Odisha Government to pay the compensation.
Adjudicating over the petition, the NHRC had issued a notice to the Odisha Government, which in return refused to pay the damage stating that the decision was taken by the State Cabinet in consonance with previous practice. Rejecting the stand of the State Government, the NHRC asked the State Chief Secretary to send a compliance report along with payment of monetary relief within six weeks, said a Press Release issued by the NHRC.
