COMPENSATION PENDING, SC ADJOURNS ITALY MARINES CASE

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to next week a plea by the central government to close all proceedings in India against the Italian marines who killed two fishermen off the coast of Kerala in 2012.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde took note of a submission by the government’s lawyer Rajat Nair that they were yet to receive the compensation amount from the Italian government. “We will deposit the money in this court within 24 hours of receiving it from the Italian counterpart. Although the process of transferring the money has been initiated, we are yet to receive it,” Nair told the bench, which also included justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.

At this, the bench recalled that it was always of the opinion that the case should be listed on a later date but it was the government which was in a hurry to have a hearing as soon as possible.

On April 9, the court had asked Italy to deposit ₹10 crore with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as agreed upon by the Italian government for disbursal to the families of the slain fishermen and the injured boat owner.

While the bench contemplated deferring the matter for 15 days to complete these formalities, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who represented the Centre, asked for an “earliest possible date” since the MEA would deposit the money in the court registry within three days of receiving it.

Amused by the zeal of the government for the closure of proceedings against the two marines before the top court and a criminal trial pending before a special court in Delhi, the Supreme Court then remarked that it expected the government to act with the same speed in other cases too.