'Money Can Never Compensate Life': Kerala High Court Closes Plea For Compensation To Deceased Kollam Doctor's Kin As Govt Announces Ex-Gratia

The Kerala High Court on Friday closed the petition filed by a lawyer seeking Rs. 1 Crore compensation for the bereaved family members of the 23 years old house surgeon, Dr. Vandana Das, who was brutally killed by an injured man brought to the government hospital in police custody.

The Division Bench comprising Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice Kauser Edappagath took note of the Government Order sanctioning Rs. 25 Lakhs to the parents of the deceased as ex gratia payment.

The bench also expressed doubts regarding the locus standi of the petitioner but declared that it would not be addressing the issue in light of the GO dated June 2.

"The adequacy of the amounts ordered by the Govt is not something that is within the purview of our competence to adjudicate, and in any event, these are issues that are fully within the province of the Govt," the Court observed. 

The Bench orally added that no amount of money could compensate human life. 

"Money can never compensate life; be it Rs. 25 Lakhs or Rs. 25 Crores or even Rs 2500 Crores. A human life can never be valued on payments. But this is an ex gratia payment, and your locus is very important. But at least, you can be happy that you’ve contributed to the cause. It’s a pure decision to be taken by the Government - whether they want to give Rs. 1 or Rs. 1Crore. So we do not want to get involved in that," the Court said. 

As regards the other reliefs seeking monitoring of the investigation by the Court in order to secure the ends of justice; and issuance of guidelines for providing security to the doctors, nurses, and other staff in Hospitals across the State, as well as the provision of armed forces in all casualties of all Government Hospitals across the State, the Court was of the view that since it was already seized of the same in the connected matters, it would not be necessary to issue any further directions in the present petition in this regard. 

Advocates C. Rajendran, B.K. Gopalakrishnan, and Sreevidya R.S. appeared on behalf of the petitioner in this case. 

Case Title: Adv. Manoj Rajagopal v. State of Kerala & Ors.