MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the State to file, within a week, a report detailing the action taken on the recommendations of the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission, which inquired into the 2018 Thoothukudi police firing.
The direction was issued by a Division Bench comprising Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel while hearing a petition filed by Katheresan of PP Kulam in Madurai and others. The petitioners sought directions to register criminal cases against those responsible for the police firing on people who were protesting and demanding the permanent closure of Sterlite Copper.
During the hearing, the judges asked whether the government had accepted the recommendations of the Aruna Jagadeesan Commission.
The Government Counsel informed the Court that the recommendations had been partially accepted and that the Commission's report had been discussed by the Cabinet. Recommendations including departmental action against the officials concerned were under consideration, the Counsel said.
When the judges inquired about the pending payment of Rs 20 lakh compensation to the victim families, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that they had been waiting for eight years in the case. The judges observed, “Patience is greater than the ocean.”
The government then sought one week to file an affidavit detailing the Commission's recommendations, compensation paid, government employment provided to the affected persons and departmental action taken against government officials.
Accepting the request, the Bench granted one week to file the affidavit and adjourned the case to August 31.