Four years after a Supreme Court-appointed committee to consider claims for compensation to victims of stray dog bites in the State was set up, it continues to suffer from government apathy.
The three-member committee headed by S. Siri Jagan, a former judge of the High Court of Kerala, has received 2,496 claims for compensation so far. It has closed 456 claims, including those recommended for compensation. The highest claim awarded by the committee is for ₹20 lakh, to a Thiruvananthapuram boy who suffered a reaction from the rabies vaccine.
However, the government has failed to provide infrastructure support to the committee or meet administrative expenses despite repeated reminders.
A letter sent to the Urban Affairs Director in February this year claimed ₹78,513 as postage and binding charges alone till December 31, 2019, not to mention other expenses. However, no contingency fund has been sanctioned, forcing the committee chairman who gets an honorarium to dip into his own pockets.
“The committee sends at least four to six notices by registered post on each claim, and the postage fee comes to nearly ₹150. This is met by me. Requests for reimbursement to the government have fallen on deaf years,” says Mr. Siri Jagan.
The committee also has binding expenses arising from sending its assessment on the claims to the Supreme Court. Twenty-six reports have been sent to the apex court so far. The committee, which holds sittings at district headquarters to receive and assess claims, does not receive any TA/DA either.
It functions out of a room with a cabin for the chairman in Kochi. But it does not have an e-mail id or official phone. There is no Wi-Fi connection in the officer either. One laptop is used by both the chairman and the secretary. The commission has requested for a desktop computer.
The office has only one rack to store files; three more have been requested. As per information received through the Right to Information Act by it, three racks, a computer, computer table, and chair have been sanctioned last year, but the wait for them continues. Besides writing to the government, it has sent reports to the Supreme Court too on these issues.
Lack of clarity
There are also complaints that anomalies in the service conditions of the committee secretary have not been rectified so far.
Data on compensation paid to dog-bite victims is also not shared with the committee. “Once, on the Supreme Court’s direction, we called up the claimants individually, and sent a report. Those claims were paid. But we do not have any idea on how many claimants in all have been paid,” says Mr. Siri Jagan.
“More than 90% of the victims claiming compensation are poor. Helping them is the sole reason I am carrying on the responsibility,” he says.
