New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court Wednesday ordered the city government to come out with a scheme that will enable victims of various crimes including rape to get compensation awarded by the legal services authority within a day.
A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul directed the authorities to ensure that the mechanism and funds are in place by Aug 21 for swift disbursal of compensation to the victims under the Delhi Victims Compensation Scheme (VCS) 2011.
The bench also pulled up the Delhi government for not having the victim compensation fund (VCF) in place which has been provided for under the Delhi VCS.
It also directed the fund be set up "within three months from today".
The bench said: "Unfortunately, victim compensation fund has not been established despite its notification two years ago. There is no explanation coming forth for the delay."
The Delhi VCS offers ex-gratia from Rs.40,000 to Rs.4 lakh to crime victims.
During the hearing, the additional secretary of revenue and Delhi government's standing counsel Zubeda Begum told the court that the government will periodically transfer funds to the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DLSA) which will be kept in the VCF account.
She added that the DLSA will thereafter transfer the amount of compensation to the victim within a day of receiving the award by the authority.
Taking into consideration the submissions of the government, the court said: "Transfer of funds in first instance shall take place within one week from today (Wednesday). The method shall be in place from Aug 21.
"In other words, with effect from Aug 21, victims shall receive the funds within 24 hours (one day) of communication of the award."
The government also informed the court that the pending amount of compensation in respect of 33 victims has been paid by the government and "that clears the backlog".
The court also said a single-window system should be adopted to disburse the money and for that government will not give the funds to divisional commissioner of the revenue department but directly provide the amount to the DLSA which will compensate the victim within a day.
The court was hearing a suo motu cognizance it took for the safety of women in the capital after the Dec 16 gang rape.