Overview
- The court set compensation at Rs 6 lakh for deaths and Rs 50,000–2.5 lakh for injuries in pothole or open manhole incidents.
- Committees headed by municipal chiefs or senior authority officers with the District Legal Services Authority secretary will identify victims, conduct inquiries and decide payouts, with power to act on applications or credible information including media reports.
- All reported potholes must be attended to within 48 hours, with departmental action for failures, and police stations must share incident details with the committees within 48 hours.
- Compensation must be disbursed within six to eight weeks of a claim, with 9% annual interest for delays and personal liability for municipal commissioners, collectors or agency heads.
- Amounts paid are to be recovered from culpable officials, engineers or contractors, with blacklisting, fines, departmental proceedings or criminal cases possible, and authorities must file compliance reports by November 21.