Karnataka govt drags feet on appointing assessors to process riots claims

Govt is dragging its feet on appointing assessors to the high court-appointed claims commission to help evaluate the extent of damage

More than a year after the East Bengaluru riots, people whose vehicles, properties and other valuables were burnt in the violence are still awaiting compensation.

Reason? The state government is dragging its feet on appointing assessors to the high court-appointed claims commission to help evaluate the extent of damage and process the claims.

On August 11, 2020, a mob protesting an offensive Facebook post torched the KG Halli and DJ Halli police stations, parked vehicles and many buildings. The protesters were angry at the police for allegedly not taking action against P Naveen Kumar, who had uploaded the offensive post. Kumar is the nephew of Pulakeshinagar MLA, R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy. The mob also burnt the MLA's home in Kaval Byrasandra.

While the police arrested scores of suspects and eventually charged many of them, the government moved the high court seeking the appointment of a claims commission to compensate citizens who lost property, valuables and vehicles during the riots. On August 28, 2020, the court appointed a retired judge as the claims commissioner.

The commission got to work in January this year and has so far received 90 claims. But it cannot move forward unless the government provides it with assessors to investigate the claims and assess the damages.

The government is yet to respond to a letter written by the commission two months ago seeking the appointment of assessors. And this is not the first time that the commission has received a lukewarm response from the government to requests for help.

The commission's staff engaged in the survey and paperwork were not paid for months. The government paid their salaries and arrears only after a high court order in the first week of July.

Presently, RTO officials are assessing the damages to motor vehicles. The commission scrutinised the claims and identified a total of 103 damaged vehicles. The RTO has completed the process of determining the compensation for 88 vehicles and will shortly give a report on the 15 remaining vehicles, an official in the commission told DH.

As for damaged immovable properties, the commission has received claims to the tune of Rs 4.49 crore.

Many people have also claimed to have lost gold and silver jewellery, cash and other valuables. Several of them have reported damages to refrigerators, television sets, electrical appliances and household articles, said an official reviewing the applications.

The official stressed that it's important to get the damages assessed vis-à-vis the claims. "We require details of the compensation claimed and the compensation that can be awarded based on the assessment before we call the claimants for an investigation. We cannot proceed to the investigation stage unless all these documents are in place," the official said.