Ahooja Committee Report
E N Q U I R Y C O N D U C T E D B Y T H I S C O M M I T T E E
In accordance with the recommendations of Justice Ranganath Misra Commission and the terms of reference of this Committee, it was decided to issue a public notice calling for information in the following format:
Name of father / husband of applicant.
Age of applicant.
Full name (and address) of person(s) killed.
Date of death.
Place of death.
Relationship of the deceased with the applicant.
Whether relief was sought earlier and was granted / not granted.
If grated, name and full address of the legal heir / next of kin to whom the amount (name and address) of relief fund.
FIR (original).
Death Certificate (original).
Photocopy of ration card.
Photocopy of such documents, etc., which could reasonably prove that person(s) was (were) killed during train / bus journey within the Union Territory of Delhi with photocopy of such other documents as he / she may like to furnish.
The public notice was published in English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi beginning on 18-3-84* (inviting applications with the above particulars).
* Notices were published in different newspapers on different dates.
In the following newspapers: –
Tribune (English daily), Chandigarh.
Punjab Kesari, Delhi and Jallandhar.
Hind Samachar (Urdu), Jallandhar.
Hindustan Times, New Delhi.
Times of India, New Delhi.
Indian Express, Delhi and Chandigarh.
Nav Bharat Times, New Delhi.
Hindustan (Hindi), New Delhi.
Jansatta (Hindi), New Delhi.
Pratap (Urdu), New Delhi.
Milap (Urdu), New Delhi.
Awam (Urdu), New Delhi.
Jathedar (Punjabi), New Delhi.
Panthak Samachar (Punjabi), New Delhi.
Educator (Punjabi), New Delhi.
Akali Patrika (Punjabi), Jallandhar.
Ajit (Punjabi). Jallandhar.
The last date fixed for receipt of the applications was 10th April, 1987. However, applications continued to be received till the end of April, 1987 both by post as well as by hand. All these applications have been taken into account.
For receiving applications, collecting and processing them, an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) was appointed in the Home Department with his office at Room No.19, Old Secretariat, Delhi.Application which came by hand were received personally by the OSD who also interviewed the applicants on the points on which the applicants were not able to give precise data in response to the notice.
The Committee received, in all, applications pertaining to 1767 cases of death.
The aforesaid 1767 cases were scrutinized and it was found that there were 62 duplicate cases i.e., two applications had been made for the same case of death. After eliminating these duplicate cases, a total of 1705 cases remained for verification. After scrutinizing the individual applications it was found that in 1585 cases it had been stated by the applicants that financial assistance had already been provided by the Relief Commissioner /D.C. Delhi. In other words, these 1585 cases had already been verified and were included in the list of the Relief Commissioner. The remaining 162 cases, where it had been stated by the applicants that no compensation had been paid, were separated. A computer check was then conducted of these 162 names with the Delhi Police as well as the Relief Commissioner’s list. This computer check revealed that there were 39 more chases, which were included already in the Relief Commissioner’s list. There were also another 11 cases, which had been verified earlier by the Delhi Police and included in the Police list though in these cases compensation had not been given by the Relief Commissioner. It was thus found that 112 cases remained which did not find any mention either in the Delhi Police list or in the list of the Relief Commissioner. Further scrutiny revealed that there were two more cases of duplication. The remaining 110 cases were then taken up for further verification.
The Committee issued individual letters to each of the 110 applicants to appear before it and to adduce further proof in support of their claims. Out of these 110 applicants a total of 28 appeared before the Committee for a personal hearing while another 6 sent additional information by post. The rest did not respond.
The above list of 110 names was also supplied to the Delhi Police with the direction that a further spot verification should be conducted. According to the verification carried out by the Delhi Police, deaths of 45 persons has been established. However, the death of 46 persons could not be verified due to various reasons. The police also reported that remaining 13 persons were residence of Punjab, Haryana and such verification in their cases could not be made. Further three persons were found to be still alive.
The field inquiries conducted by the Delhi Police on the direction of this Committee as well as the personal hearings conducted by the Committee have established 52 cases of deaths as verified out of the total number of 110 cases taken up for inquiry. The Committee has passed appropriate orders in each of these cases and sent the related files to the Relief Commissioner for payment of ex-gratia relief.
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