Special powers to settle claims in post-Vienna cases

CHANDIGARH: Former chief justice of Kerala high court, Justice (retd) V K Bali, who was appointed as claim commissioner by the Punjab government to decide claims for victims of violence in the state following the killing of Dera Sachkhand Ballan's deputy chief in Vienna, was on Monday conferred with powers to "fix responsibility and recover compensation." The claim commissioner, appointed in November 2012, did not have such powers earlier.

Information regarding fresh notifications about more powers to the commission was provided on Monday to the Punjab and Haryana high court by the state government. The high court is monitoring the functioning of the claim commission.

In November 2012, the Punjab government had notified appointment of Justice Bali as the claim commissioner to decide claims for victims of large-scale violence witnessed in some parts of the state in 2009 in the wake of the death of Dera Sachkhand's senior functionary Sant Ramanand in Vienna. One retired district and sessions judge from Punjab, C R Goyal, was also appointed as assessor-cum-registrar of the commission.

Following the death of Sant Ramanand, large-scale violence erupted in Jalandhar, Phaghwara, Hoshiarpur and some other towns of Punjab. It was only after the high court took notice of the matter that the police got into action and began to register cases.