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Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Monday directed Railways to pay compensation to all victims of the August 25 train accident at an un-manned level crossing near Sambalpur in which at least 14 people were killed and five injured.
Railways had opposed paying compensation on the ground that there was no provision to pay damages to non-passengers under the Railways Act.
Disposing of a PIL filed by advocate Prabir Das, a division bench headed by Chief Justice V Gopala Gowda asked the Railway Board Chairman to pay Rs 5 lakh to the families of each of the 14 victims who died as the vehicle in which they were travelling was hit by an express train.
The HC also directed Railways to pay Rs one lakh to a grievously injured woman still undergoing treatment.
Compensation ranging between Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 was ordered for the other wounded in the accident according to the gravity of their situation.
The train had hit an auto rickshaw in which the victims, all of them farm labourers, werecrossingthe railway track at Khairapalli and 13 of the 14 deceased were women and belonged to the SC community.
As their families could not independently seek court redressal, the PIL was filed on August 28.
Taking this into consideration, the HC directed the Railways to pay the compensation from the date of filing of the PIL with six per cent interest and asked it to complete the process within two months.
