Ahmedabad: The Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) would pay a sum of Rs four lakh each to the family of six of the 59 victims of the Godhra train carnage of February 27 2002, official sources said in Ahmedabad on October 11.

Nearly 20 months after the train carnage, the RCT has been able to decide only six cases even as evidence of claimants has been taken in 40 cases while in 13 cases no person has yet come forward to claim compensation, sources in the tribunal told reporters.

Hearings on these cases have been completed and the RCT would pronounce its orders on October 13.

A senior official of the RCT, on condition of anonymity, said the main delay was due to absence of a full- time (judicial) member who was appointed only in March 2003.

He said that such compensation cases are decided by a division bench of the tribunal and the presence of a full-time member was important for its proper proceedings.

A member (technical) said that another key problem faced during awarding compensation in this case was that many of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) kar sevaks had travelled ticketless and their names did not figure in the reservation charts.

He said it was not possible to award compensation till the bonafides of the passengers were established.

Moreover, officials and advocates are awaiting the DNA reports of 13 victims who were burnt beyond recognition so to clearly establish if they were kar sevaks or regular passengers.

Advocate Deepak Shukla, representing the VHP and family of 38 of the train carnage victims said that the DNA reports are awaited so that matters could be further expedited.

PTI