HC passes judgement for relief in farmers' suicides PIL

Mumbai, May 5 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today directed the Maharashtra Government to provide immediate relief and rehabilitation to the families of farmers who had committed suicides due to agricultural indebtedness after January 1, 2001.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Kshitij Vyas and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud, passed the directives while disposing off a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by S K Anand, a city- based lawyer, regarding a number of suicides being committed by farmers in rural Maharashtra and the inaction by state machinery and for allegedly the matter.

A report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), submitted to the court, had suggested that committees comprising representatives from institutions, activists and voluntary organisations be set up under the aegis of the court, following which the court passed the interim directions for the same.

In response to the interim directions, the state set up district- level committees, which would investigate the matter within a span of 15 days of the occurrence of the incident.

The state government also broadened the criteria to reconsider all the cases of suicides including 414 that were found to be ineligible.

The court directed the state government to ensure that correct and complete list of farmers, who were compelled to commit suicide by force of circumstances, be updated expeditiously.

The court also directed the Central and state governments to address the pressing need for a decision in this regard and create an insurance safety net that could cover the production system as a whole.

The court also asked the state government to review the compensation amount of Rs one lakh and enhance it suitably and more realistically for the family of the deceased cultivators.

UNI XR-ARM SSS YA BD2246