Madurai: Allowing a writ petition pending since 2011, the Madras High Court Bench here has directed Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) to pay a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the father of a 40-year-old van driver who got electrocuted after an overhead electric cable snapped and fell on him when he was fetching drinking water from a pipeline near their house at Chekkanoorani near here on April 24, 2010.
Justice M.V. Muralidaran held that the incident had occurred purely on account of the TNEB’s negligence and hence the State was liable to compensate the death of M. Muthupandi. He ordered that the compensation amount should be paid to the petitioner, K. Muthu, along with interest at the rate of six per cent from the date of filing of the writ petition till the date of realisation, within six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the court order.
He rejected the argument of the Board that it had been carrying out periodic maintenance of overhead lines and that the accident occurred as the cables had been weakened due to throwing of garlands on it by those who took bodies to a burial ground situated close by. The judge said the authorities could not shirk from their responsibility of compensating the death, at least monetarily.
