The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to convene a meeting of the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories in six weeks for evolving consensus on regulation of sale of acid to prevent acid attacks.
A Bench of Justices R.M. Lodha, J. Chelameswar and Madan B. Lokur gave this direction to Additional Solicitor-General Mohan Parasaran, who told the court about the progress made at an earlier meeting. The Bench was hearing a writ petition filed by Laxmi, a victim of acid attack, in which a plea was made to regulate the sale of acid across the country.
Mr. Parasaran said Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Manipur, Mizoram, Odihsa, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal had issued notifications for a victim compensation scheme, and the other States were also asked to adopt it.
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Mr. Parasaran said the Home Secretary had requested the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers to examine the feasibility of setting up an expert group to consider the possibility of enacting legislation for banning free sale over the counter.