The High Court yesterday upheld a lower court verdict that ordered BIWTA and a launch owners' association concerned to giveTk 17.11 crore in compensation to the victim families of a launch accident in the Meghna in July 2003.

The family of a deceased will get Tk 10 lakh and an injured victim will get Tk 1 lakh, the HC ruled.

The bench of Justice Syed Md Ziaul Karim and Justice Sheikh Md Zakir Hossain came up with the verdict after rejecting a revision petition filed by Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) against the trial court verdict.

MV Nasrin-1 capsized on July 8, 2003 at the confluence of the Padma, Meghna and Dakatia in Chandpur leaving 110 people dead, about 200 missing, and many others injured, according to a government investigation report.

The triple-decker vessel was on its way to Bhola from Dhaka with about 700 passengers on board. The launch owner also died in the accident.

Citing the probe report, Subrata Chowdhury, a lawyer for Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), said the launch was unfit but BIWTA allowed it to operate, and was overloaded because it was capable of carrying 500 passengers.

After the HC delivered the verdict, Advocate ZI Khan Panna, another lawyer for BLAST, which had sought Tk 28.93 crore in compensation for the victims, told The Daily Star that the HC ordered the authorities concerned to give Tk 10 lakh to each of the deceased's families andTk 1 lakh to each injured person.

However, Ishrat Hasan, a lawyer for the launch authorities, told reporters that they would petition the Supreme Court's Appellate Division against the verdict.

Following the accident, the deputy commissioner of Chandpur published a list of 400 people who were affected by the incident. Accordingly, the shipping and disaster trustee board gave Tk 15,000 to Tk 20,000 to the deceased's and injured persons' families as compensation.

In 2004, on behalf of the victims, BLAST filed a case with the Third Joint District Judge's Court of Dhaka claiming that the compensation was not adequate. More than Tk 28.93 crore was demanded in the case, where the number of the deceased was mentioned as 171.

The case was sent to the Seventh Joint District Judge's Court in 2012.

In its verdict on February 2, 2016, the court asked the government to give Tk 17.11 crore to the families of the affected people - 170 deceased and one injured - within 60 days.

BIWTA and the defendant, however, filed a revision petition with the HC against the verdict on October 24,2016.

Dr Kamal Hossain appeared for BLAST and Advocate Abdul Baset Majumder for the government.