The Gujarat High Court bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agrawal and Justice Pranav Trivedi on Friday directed the Vadodara Collector to hear the plea of the Harni boat victims’ families and decide on an appropriate compensation amount.

Hearing the suo motu PIL regarding the victims’ application, the high court instructed the Gujarat government and the Vadodara Collector to hear the kin of those who died in the Harni boat tragedy and determine compensation, taking all circumstances into account.

The government lawyers argued in court that, just as the Oreva company was held responsible and compensation was decided in the Morbi bridge incident, a similar approach could be taken in this case regarding the responsibility of Kotia Projects.

The high court ordered that the district legal services authority provide sufficient assistance, including appointing a deputy collector-level officer to help the victims’ families and their lawyers in the compensation process. The court further permitted Kotia and its partners to present their case before this competent officer.

The High Court emphasised the need to calculate the compensation amount for deaths and injuries in this case and instructed the process to be completed within eight weeks. The state government has been directed to present a report on the determined compensation amount within this time frame.

Harni boat incident

On January 18, 15 students and 2 teachers lost their lives after a boat capsized at Vadodara’s Harni Lake.

A total of 23 school students, who were 8–11 years old, went boating along with teachers on the evening of January 18. Notably, only 50% of them had life jackets.

Turning a blind eye to safety, the boat operator was accused of seating 20 to 25 people in a boat which had the capacity 10 to 12 people.

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Who is to blame in the Harni Lake tragedy that took so many lives?