The Andhra Pradesh High Court has quashed the state government's order awarding compensation to 70 Muslim youths who were "falsely implicated" by police in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bomb blasts case.
"Under which law did the government pay the compensation?," a division bench, headed by Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice K C Bhanu, questioned yesterday and asserted that the government could not act on its own in such matters.
A day after the verdict, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy convened a meeting to discuss the matter and options before the state government like filing an appeal in the Supreme Court are being explored.
"The Chief Minister will discuss the issue with the Advocate General and take a decision on filing an appeal in the Supreme Court," sources in the CM's Office said.
The Minorities Welfare Department, which issued the order on December 6, 2011, awarding Rs 70 lakh as compensation to 70 youths, has taken up the issue with the Law Department following the verdict, official sources said.
"The compensation was awarded based on the recommendations of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM). The issue was also discussed in the state Assembly in 2010-11," a senior official in the Minorities Welfare Department said.
The NCM had recommended payment of compensation to the 70 youths by deducting the amount from the salaries of policemen responsible for falsely implicating the youths in criminal cases in the aftermath of the Mecca Masjid blasts in 2007.
Minorities Welfare Department of the state government, in its order on December 6, 2011, sanctioned a sum of Rs 70 lakh "towards expenditure to be incurred in connection with Confidence Building Measures and compensation" for 20 cases affected in the blasts in 2007.
Of the 70 youths, 20 got Rs 3 lakh each while the rest were given Rs 20,000 each, according to official sources.
The state government paid the money from its own coffers without deducting it from the policemen's salaries as directed by the NCM, attracting criticism from the High Court.
In December 2010, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy promised in the state Assembly, following a request by Majlis leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, that the state government would not only withdraw police cases against the youth but also pay compensation for their rehabilitation.
The Government Order (on compensation) was issued a year later in December 2011.
Andhra Pradesh Minority Welfare Minister Mohammed Ahmadullah told PTI, "We respect the high court orders. The Chief Minister (N Kiran Kumar Reddy) held a meeting on the matter today. The High Court judgement copy did not come. The Chief Minister decided that a final decision will be taken after studying the judgment, and as per law.".
