The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said there was “nothing wrong” with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s decision to announce compensation for victims of the recent riots in north-east Delhi.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C. Hari Shankar declined to entertain a PIL which had challenged the compensation announced by the Delhi government, saying “it is a policy decision” and “we will not interfere in it”.
The court said, “This is not a compensation given on fault basis. The compensation is being awarded on a no-fault basis. There is nothing wrong with it.”
The petitioner, BJP leader and former MLA Nand Kishore Garg, contended that victims of the riots should be first identified before payment of compensation to ensure those who “perpetrated” the violence do not get the relief.
The Bench disagreed with the contention, saying if the petitioner’s suggestion was accepted, then the scheme “would become totally unworkable”.
“It would be impossible to implement,” the court said, adding that it was a policy decision of the Delhi government and “we will be extremely slow in interfering with it”. “We expect the Delhi government’s assistance scheme for helping riot victims will be for assistance of riot victims only... We see no reason to entertain the writ petition,” the Bench said while dismissing the plea.