The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : 350 applications cleared at tsunami adalat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

350 applications cleared at tsunami adalat

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI, MARCH 28 . The loss of fishing vessels and nets and improper distribution of relief to tsunami victims dominated the second tsunami adalat, conducted by the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLSA), here today.

Out of the 500 applications taken up for consideration by the three benches, comprising advocates and retired judges, more than 350 were disposed of.

The departments concerned have been asked to honour the recommendations within a maximum period of two weeks.

Six more tsunami adalats are scheduled for this month, said the TNSLSA member-secretary, M. Jeyapaul.

In another two weeks, the Authority would announce tsunami adalats in other districts.

As most of the applicants maintained that they had owned huts, nets and catamarans and that everything was swept away by the tsunami, the panellists insisted on proof.

Certificates from the village administrative officers or the Fisheries Department or even from responsible persons in the neighbourhood and fishermen's societies were accepted as proof of bona fides.

Many claimants who could not furnish any of these documents were given time to produce some kind of proof of ownership and loss, said a panel advocate, V. Kannadasan.

Revenue officials, including the Collector, S. Chandramohan, who attended the adalat, suggested that if all the remaining applications were forwarded to them in a lot, they could process them and award relief to genuine victims. The adalat could process applications only in case of dispute over claims and the subsequent denial of relief.

Accordingly, the Principal Sessions Judge, P. Murugesan, who is the secretary of the District Legal Services Authority, decided to forward hundreds of pending applications to the revenue administration.

The applicants alleged that the fisheries and revenue officials delayed the processing inordinately and that certificates of loss came with a price tag. Bureaucrats assisting in the adalat claimed that they had to grapple with a large number of bogus claims. The next adalat will be held at the TNSLSA headquarters in the Madras High Court on April 11.

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