HC orders 20 lakh payout over death of students in Beas river

SHIMLA: In a landmark judgment, the Himachal Pradesh high court on Saturday ordered the state government, the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) and Hyderabad-based VNR Vignana Jyothi engineering college, to pay ₹20 lakh each to the kin of 24 engineering students who were swept away in the Beas river after the floodgates of the Larji dam were opened and water was released in the river without prior warning.

A division bench, headed by of chief justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, directed that the compensation amount, including the interim relief of ₹5 lakh each, will be paid with interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum from Saturday till its final realisation.

The bench, which treated media reports about the incident as public interest litigation, asked the HPSEB, the state government and the college management to share the compensation amount in the ratio of 60, 30 and 10 respectively.

The court gave eight weeks to the respondents to deposit the money with the high court for disbursement to the kin of the deceased students.

Holding the HPSEB prima facie responsible for the tragedy, the bench said, “Keeping all these factors in view, read with the inquiry report of the divisional commissioner, Mandi, the board authorities had a major role in the tragedy.”

In an earlier order, passed on June 25, 2014, the high court had ordered an interim relief of ₹5 lakh each to the families of the deceased which will be adjusted against the compensation awarded on Saturday.

Twenty-four students of the engineering college, who were on an excursion to Manali, and a tour operator, were swept away on June 8, 2014, at Thalot after water from the Larji hydropower project dam was released into the Beas.