Full Bench headed by CJI Khehar to State: Why are you treating Tribal villagers like Animals?

January,6,2017:

State Policy was discriminating in relief and rehabilitation measures for Dam oustees.

The Apex Court castigated the Madhya Pradesh govt. on Thursday for giving ₹11,000 as interim help to the families displaced by construction of minor dams as compared to₹50,000 given to those families who lost their homes to major dam projects.

Advocate Sanjay Parekh told the bench headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar that such discrimination in relief & rehabilitation to similarly displaced families was inhumane.

He was advocating the cause of 370 families which became homeless because of minor irrigation project of Kharak Dam.

Affected villagers, who were mostly tribals, approached the High Court. The amount ₹50,000 was ordered to be given by the HC on July 18, 2016.

Upset by the MP govt. for differentiating between major & minor dams, the bench of Justices Khehar, D Y Chandrachud & N V Ramana said that govt. is treating them like animals & they ought to give proper compensation to them.

It ordered immediate payment of Rs 50,000 to each family.

The affected families had moved the Apex Court claiming adequate compensation and an effective mechanism to adjudicate their grievances relating to rehabilitation. These families belonged to Khargaon and Barwani districts.

The bench ordered the Madhya Pradesh govt. to set up 3 grievance redressal bodies; each headed by a retired district judge, urgently to determine the relief & rehabilitation package for these people.