School fire victims’ kin may get relief soon

First bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahendran closed the proceedings after holding that “We are hopeful to note that the government has accepted that the request of the petitioners to pay compensation with interest from the date of accident and interest rates prevailing for different financial years as on 2004-11 at 8%, 2011-12 at 8.6% and 2012-2016 at 8.7%.” 

The bench also recorded the government’s submission that the beneficiaries may disclose their respective bank accounts to the government through their counsel, and the amount will be transferred directly to the accounts of the beneficiaries within four weeks.

Following the devastating accident on July 16, 2004, at Krishna English Medium School, the state government offered Rs 1 lakh as ex gratia compensation. The Centre announced Rs 50,000 each as ex gratia damages. Subsequently, an association of the victims’ families was formed in 2012 and they moved the Madras High Court seeking adequate compensation. 

A single judge, initially appointed a retired High Court judge, Justice P Shanmugam, as a one-man commission. However, with Justice Shanmugam expressing his inability to take up the task, the court replaced him with Justice K Venkataraman on September 14, 2014 mainly to ascertain the quantum of compensation payable to the victims’ families. 

Justice Venkataraman in his report had applied the ‘multiplier formula’ that courts usually apply in motor accident cases or factory accidents to arrive at the compensation. He had taken Rs 30,000 as ‘notional annual contribution’ of the victims. Arriving at Rs 4.5 lakh as compensation payable to the families, he said a ‘conventional amount’ of Rs 50,000 could be added to that sum and held that a sum of Rs 5 lakh will be just and reasonable to each of the parents/legal heirs of the students. 

For three children alone he had recommended Rs 6 lakh as damages they had sustained grave burns and had to live with deformities ever since. This award was against a claim of Rs 20 lakh each as sought by the families.