MP High Court slams collector, quashes Rs 7.2 lakh recovery from 1984 riots victim widow

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed a Rs 7.23 lakh recovery order against a widow who lost property during the 1984 riots. The court ordered the state to pay her Rs 50,000 for the mental anguish caused during the recovery proceedings and criticised the collector and officials for a "glaring lack of due diligence, empathy and proper application of mind."

The case was brought by the widow challenging a recovery certificate issued by the additional collector on September 18, 2014. The collector had claimed that she had concealed the receipt of earlier compensation payments, but the court noted that she had explicitly disclosed these payments in her application. The court held that ex-gratia payments made to victims of the 1984 riots did not prevent them from seeking further compensation for quantifiable property loss.

The recovery certificate was quashed, and all subsequent proceedings were declared erroneous and illegal.