Lucknow, April 20
The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court today issued a notice to senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon on the saree distribution case and directed the Uttar Pradesh Government to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the families of the 22 women killed in the stampede.The Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Vishnu Sahay and Mr Justice G.K. Gupta, while hearing a public interest petition filed in this connection directed the government to complete the ongoing commissioner-level inquiry into the case within three weeks.
The court issued notices to Mr Tandon and Mr Brijendra Murai Yadav, a function organiser against whom a bribery case has been registered on the orders of the Election Commission, and fixed May 11 as the next date of hearing.
The notices were issued on the plea of the petitioner that both should be asked to pay compensation to the victims.
The court asked the government to pay the raised compensation amount of Rs 2 lakh to the families of each of the victims within a week after Advocate-General Virendra Bhatia told the court that the compensation amount could be hiked as an interim measure on the instructions of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
In its order, the court mentioned that the Advocate-General had stated that Mr Tandon and Mr Yadav had not sought permission from the District Magistrate and the Senior
Superintendent of Police before organising the birthday function. — PTI
