New Delhi: After hearing a contempt of court petition against the Kerala government for two years and two months, the Supreme Court directed the High Court of Kerala to monitor the treatment and medical facilities provided to endosulfan survivors.
The Supreme Court also closed the contempt petition against the chief secretary V P Joy because the government disbursed the compensation of Rs 5 lakh to almost all the victims of endosulfan.
On January 10, 2017, the Supreme Court directed the state government to pay Rs 5 lakh each to all the endosulfan survivors and to the families of those who died of endosulfan-triggered ailment in three months. The same order also directed the state government to consider providing medical facilities and treatment for life-long ailments arising from the effects of endosulfan, considering the larger number of affected persons.
But by 2018, the government gave full compensation to only 3,010 survivors from a total of 6,728 persons identified as endosulfan victims.
In 2019, four survivors moved a contempt of court petition against the state government for not paying the compensation. The government got the petition closed by paying Rs 5 lakh each only to the four petitioners.
In May 2022, another eight survivors moved the Supreme Court accusing the state government of contempt of court.
This time, too, the state government tried to close the petition by compensating the eight survivors.
But the bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud pulled up the government for "not doing anything" for five years.
To be sure, Justice Chandrachud was part of the bench that ordered the state government to give Rs 5 lakh each to all the endosulfan victims.
"The Government of Kerala has done virtually nothing for five years. Besides the fact that the delay is appalling, the inaction is in breach of the orders of this court," Justice Chandrachud said in his order on May 13, 2022.
The court refused to close the contempt case and ordered the state government to pay Rs 50,000 each to the eight petitioners towards the cost, said P S Sudheer, the advocate for the eight petitioners.
But the petitioners this time also raised the issue of the lack of treatment facilities in Kasaragod, the second part of the 2017 judgment. The Supreme Court decided to keep the case open to hear out the government.
The government in its affidavit listed out the facilities provided to the endosulfan, mostly which were only on paper.
When the petitioners challenged it, the Supreme Court directed the secretary of the District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) to file a detailed report on the status of facilities available for endosulfan victims in Kasaragod after visiting every primary health centre, community health centre, district hospital and the general hospital.
The DLSA secretary, who is a sub-judge, in his report submitted in January 2023, exposed the half-truths of the government affidavit. (https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2023/01/12/kasaragod-healthcare-facilities-supreme-court-taluk-hospitals.html)
The 34-page report said patients still had to travel to Karnataka and Thiruvananthapuram, 600km away, for advanced treatment.
But by then, the state government had given Rs 5 lakh each to almost all the endosulfan survivors and families of those who died.
On Tuesday (May 16), the bench headed by Chandrachud, who is the chief justice, asked the high court of Kerala to monitor the treatment and facilities provided to endosulfan victims.
