Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena has approved the appointment of 40 more assessors to assist the North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission (NEDRCC). With the NEDRCC already having 14 members, the recent appointment has taken the number to 54. The commission was set up by the Delhi government to evaluate the damage to public property resulting from the riots that took place in February 2020.

The officials at the lieutenant governor’s office said that the 14 assessors had so far settled just 7%, which is 200 of the total 2,775 claims filed by victims of the Delhi riots. The Delhi LG, following the appointment, has also issued directions to clear all the pending cases within three months.

Earlier this month, the Delhi Court discharged six accused in a case of attempt to murder in the Delhi riots case. Another person accused of being involved in riotous activities was also booked, but only for the offence of rioting. Notably, the court’s ruling was related to a case where seven accused were booked for allegedly being a part of the “riotous mob” on 25 February 2020, near Maujpur Babarpur metro station.

Clarifying that the accused will still face trial for the offence of rioting, the Delhi court transferred the case back to a magisterial court saying that the case was “not exclusively triable by the court of sessions.” The attempt to murder charges on the imposed for a gunshot injury to a person by a mob the six were a part of.

After a meeting held in April this year to review the progress of claims settlement, the Union Home Ministry had directed the GNCTD to assess the damages holistically and submit the claims to the claims commissioner for deciding the compensation at the earliest, the source said.

The riots in the National Capital ensued in northeast Delhi on February 24 in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which was introduced to provide Indian citizenship to minorities from India’s neighbouring countries. Apart from areas in northeast Delhi, cities such as Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Chandbagh, Khureji Khas, Bhajanpura, Dayalpur, and Gokalpuri also saw violence break out in a chain reaction. As many as 53 people lost their lives and over 200 were left injured with massive loss to public property in the violence which continued for three days.