The Hindu : National : Uphaar tragedy: Supreme Court asks for list of Ansal properties

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 14, 2004

National

National

Uphaar tragedy: Supreme Court asks for list of Ansal properties

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, AUG. 13. The Supreme Court today asked the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy to give a list of properties owned by Ansal Theatres and Club Hotels Pvt Ltd. to enable the court to assess how much Ansals could pay as compensation to the victims as directed by the Delhi High Court.

A three-Judge Bench, comprising the Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, Justice G. P. Mathur and Justice C. K. Thakker, asked senior counsel, K.T. S. Tulsi, appearing for the association to give the list within four weeks.

The High Court had asked the Ansals to deposit Rs. 12 crores and the Delhi Police, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Vidyut Board Rs. 2.46 crores each as compensation to the victims holding them indirectly responsible for the fire that took place in the theatre on June 13, 1997 killing 59 persons.

Of these, except the Ansals, all other Government agencies had deposited the money with the High Court, though all of them had filed an appeal against the order of the High Court before the Supreme Court. The money deposited by the DVB had also been disbursed among the victims but because the Supreme Court stayed the order on an appeal filed by MCD, the money deposited by it and by the Delhi Police are yet to be distributed.

Today when the Bench asked Ansals as to why had they not deposited the money, senior counsel, P.P. Rao submitted that they had no money and wanted to sell the theatre to pay the relief.

However, Mr. Tulsi brought to the notice of the court that Ansals owned properties worth over Rs. 200 crores and it was incorrect to say that they had no money to pay the relief.In fact, the theatre itself was owned by a sister concern of Ansals, he pointed out. In the light of this submission, the Bench declined to permit the Ansals to dispose of the theatre during the pendency of the criminal case before the trial court. The judges asked the counsel to give a list of properties owned by the Ansals and adjourned the proceedings by five weeks.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National