Gaja: Court seeks reply on denial of compensation

Justice K Ravichandrababu, before whom the plea came up for hearing, directed the collector to file his reply within two weeks.

The petitioner Karthikeyan of Thandaracheri submitted that when the cyclone hit the district in November, a tree fell on his house, killing his father N Ramamurthy. Following this, the Village Administrative Officer (VAO) had sent a report in this regard to the district administration.

In the meanwhile, the State had announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of those who were killed. However, the petitioner alleged that his father’s name failed to figure in the list, and compensation was denied for the family.

Noting that his father’s name was dropped due to a mistake by the district administration, the petitioner sought for a direction to the State to award compensation to him.