Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 6: A Division Bench of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court comprising Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Puneet Gupta has dismissed the appeal filed by Power Development Department (PDD) against the judgment of writ court whereby department was directed to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakh on account of death of one Vijay Kumar Gupta.
After hearing both the sides, the DB observed, “when the writ respondents failed to consider the claim of writ petitioners for grant of compensation on account of death of Vijay Kumar Gupta due to electrocution due to the negligence of officials/officers of Power Development Department, the writ petitioners had no option but to approach this court”.
“The writ petition came to be filed in the year 2008 and during the pendency of the petition the Government has issued Order No.454-F of 2019 dated 24.10.2019 enhancing the compensation in such cases from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 10 lakh”, the DB said, adding “the writ petitioners have been hankering for getting the compensation for the last more than 14 years and, in these circumstances, the writ petitioners are entitled to the higher amount in terms of order dated 24.10.2019. Further, the writ respondents perhaps have forgotten that the deceased at the time of his death was only 48 years old and was an income tax payee”.
“Also, order dated 24.10.2019 is a beneficial order issued by the Government in larger public interest with an objective to provide dignified/ sufficient monetary support to the families of such victims so as to save them from living a destitute life. Also, from the year 2008 to the year 2023 the inflation has been raised to many folds. Therefore, the Single Judge was right in allowing interest at the rate of 6% from the date of filing of this petition”, the DB said.
With these observations, DB, while upholding the judgment of Single Judge, did not find any merit in the appeal and dismissed the same.
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