Kasaragod: The Hosdurg subordinate court has attached the Scorpio SUV of Kanhangad Regional Divisional Officer (RDO) to compensate 75-year-old Mallakkara Kamalakshi who lost her left eye after surgery at a government hospital 28 years ago.
Subordinate judge M C Biju attached the vehicle after the government took no step to pay her despite the sub-court's decree in 2018 and the High Court of Kerala rejecting the government appeal in January this year.
Despite Kamalakshi losing her left eye to medical negligence at District Hospital in 1995, the government was ordered to pay her only Rs 2.3 lakh plus interest in 2018. Now the total compensation has ballooned to around Rs 8 lakh, said her lawyer Manoj Kumar K.
"The officials in the district could have initiated steps to implement the court order," he said.
But the government and its officials chose to battle it out with Kamalakshi, who once worked as a cook at Islamia Aided Lower Primary School at Kadangod in Cheruvathur grama panchayat.
Adv Manoj Kumar said the court will put up the Scorpio for public auction to raise money for her. "If we fall short, we will ask the court to attach another vehicle of the government," he said.
Last month, the government surrendered an out-of-production Tata Spacio of the Health Department to the court instead of paying the money.
The 10-seater SUV was 19 years and four months old. The Motor Vehicle Department valued it at Rs 30,000. "We told the court that it would be a waste of time to put the old SUV on auction," the lawyer said.
The RDO's Scorpio is four years old. The Motor Vehicle Department will evaluate it on Monday, September 25. The government can still pay her the money and avoid the rigmarole, he said.
