Highlighting that the response to 968 of the 1,129 applications filed under the compensation scheme for women survivors of sexual assault and other crimes in 2018 has been delayed, the Allahabad High Court (HC) recently expressed “serious displeasure” over the lack of operational efficiency of the State’s Legal Service Authorities.
“This does not reflect a happy situation,” said a division bench of Justices Vivek Kumar Birla and Syed Qamar Hasan Rizvi. The bench asserted that this reflects that the District Legal Service Authorities are not functioning properly. “…therefore, expeditious disposal of such applications is required,” it added.
The bench suggested “sensitization of the District Legal Service Authorities”, so that the “applications may be disposed of expeditiously and the amount is also disbursed to the victims of sexual assaults without any further delay”.
On March 28, in a writ petition seeking direction for payment of rehabilitation and compensation totaling Rs 2 lakh for a victim in a case under the POSCO Act, the high court directed the U.P. State Legal Services Authority to call reports from all District Legal Services Authorities concerning the implementation status of the Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/Other crimes-2018 and submit before the court. The report may clearly indicate the number of pending claims category-wise and the reason for the delay in processing the claim, the court had directed.
On May 2, a detailed report was presented to the court, unveiling the significant backlog of applications under the compensation scheme. The report delineated various reasons attributing to the delay in processing pending applications.
Upon scrutiny of the report, the court observed that in the present matter as well, action on the petitioner’s application was initiated only subsequent to the high court’s intervention.
Therefore, taking a serious view, the division bench directed the U.P. State Legal Services Authority to furnish a ‘fresh report’ after receiving updated information from all District Legal Service Authorities by the next scheduled hearing.
Emphasizing the seriousness of the issue, the bench asked all District Legal Service Authorities to prioritise the matter. “It is expected from all the District Legal Service Authority to take the matter seriously and they shall make all efforts to dispose of the pending applications expeditiously,” the bench said.
Regarding the petitioner’s claim, the court granted additional time to the Additional Chief Standing Counsel to seek fresh instructions in the matter.
Additionally, upon the request of the Additional Chief Standing Counsel, the court scheduled the next hearing for July 15.
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