Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Sept 14 : High Court has directed the authorities to pay compensation to the family of a person who died due to electrocution in North Kashmir’s Uri area in 2013.
Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi directed for compensation of Rs 24 lakhs to the next kin of deceased Nazir Ahmad Khan who was electrocuted in 2013.
Court said that it cannot be said that the authorities concerned were not liable to maintain the electric supply lines of the area and take good care of any unforeseen situation that may result in damage to human life and property.
Court while granting the compensation recorded that the government can escape liability to pay compensation to the victim’s family by simply projecting that the matter involves disputed questions of fact but the court responds to it in negative and added that the respondents being the managers of the electric supply of the area were duty bound in law to ensure that the requisite measures were in place to prevent the leakage, loss of such energy or to see that the wire snapped would not remain live on the road to endanger the lives of the people.
“It would not suffice for the government to say that an individual indulged in siphoning or fiddling or any other mischief which resulted in his death,” reads the judgment.
The court further added that a mechanism needs to be evolved that would not only detect but prevent any mischief that might be resorted to illegally by any individual.
The authorities, court added, need to think out of the box to find solutions to unforeseen situations. “They cannot afford to be mechanical in an era that is witnessing a tremendous industrial and technological advancement which increases the number of hazardous and inherently dangerous activities,” the court said.
“The government being the supervisors and suppliers of the electricity because of which the family members had suffered, under the provisions of the law of torts, was liable to pay compensation to the victim who had suffered because of “their activities irrespective of any negligence or carelessness on the part of the managers of such undertakings,” Justice Kazmi added.
Follow our WhatsApp channel