Delhi High Court: A Division Bench comprising of Rajendra Menon, CJ and V. Kameswar Rao, J. allowed a letters patent appeal against the judgment of the writ court whereby the appellants petition for compensation of his son was dismissed.
On the fateful day, the appellant and his 14-years old son had gone to Sanjay Park maintained by Respondent 1 — East Delhi Municipal Corporation, where while playing cricket the son came in contact with an electric wire lying there and was electrocuted which resulted in his death. In the action brought for compensation by the appellant, the respondents started to shift the liability on each-other, Respondent 2 being BSES, the company responsible to maintain the electricity system in the said park. The writ court dismissed the action holding that there was a dispute as to who was responsible and such a question could only be looked into by the trial court.
The High Court was of the view that approach of the writ court was not right. The Court was of the view that the negligence on the part of respondents was writ large in the improper manner of maintaining the electricity system. It was of the view that the death of deceased was caused due to negligence of the respondents. In such situation, according to the High Court, the writ court ought not to dismiss the valid claim for compensation brought by the appellant. Holding thus, the only question left was of assessing the amount of compensation to be awarded to the appellant for the death of his 14-years old son. After applying the proper formula, the Court assessed the amount of compensation at Rs 27,38,607.81 along with interest. At first, both the respondents shall each pay 50% of the amount and thereafter they could work a settlement amongst themselves. The appeal was disposed of in the manner above. [Rajeev Singhal v. MCD, 2018 SCC OnLine Del 11518, dated 27-09-2018]
