Post-Vienna riots: Bali appointed claims commissioner

The Punjab government has appointed former Chief Justice of Kerala High Court V K Bali as the claims commissioner to decide the amount of compensation to be awarded to victims of riots that broke out in some parts of Punjab in 2009,after a religious guru was shot dead in Vienna.

The Punjab government has appointed former Chief Justice of Kerala High Court V K Bali as the claims commissioner to decide the amount of compensation to be awarded to victims of riots that broke out in some parts of Punjab in 2009,after a religious guru was shot dead in Vienna.

Former sessions judge from Punjab,C R Goyal,has been appointed as assessor-cum-registrar to assist the commission.

The state government informed this to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday during the resumed hearing of a petition filed by an NGO,which had sought directions for fixing responsibility of the administrative officials for failure to anticipate such violence and punish the culprits.

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The High Court,a fortnight back,had directed the state government to constitute a commission to award compensation to the victims of violence.

The claims Commission would estimate the damages and investigate the liability. The liability would be borne by the actual perpetrators of crime,as well as the organisers of the event.

Till now over 60 people have been arrested in the case. The Punjab government,on a previous date of hearing,had told the court that the police has identified 445 witnesses; and recorded the statements of nearly 258 people.

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