The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered ₹10 lakh compensation to the parents of a man, who died when an electric wire fell on his bicycle.
Justice Jayant Nath said the compensation amount will be the liability of BSES Rajdhani Power Limited and Reliance General Insurance Company Limited “jointly and severally”.
“It is for them to decide inter se as to in terms of the insurance policy taken by respondent no.2 [BSES], whether the liability to pay compensation is of respondent no.2 or is of respondent no.3 [Reliance General Insurance],” the high court said.
The court passed the direction after the mother of the deceased moved the court seeking compensation for her loss.
Munni Devi, in her petition, said her son Mintu Kumar Jha, who was 23-year-old when the incident happened, was pursuing a degree in Bachelor of Science from Indira Gandi Open University. While passing through a house in DDA flats, Kalkaji, on his bicycle on May 2007, he lost his life due to electrocution.
She said this act was totally attributable to the negligence of the authorities.The plea stated due to the carelessness and negligence of the authorities, she lost her son at an young age.
While BSES RPL maintained that it had no knowledge of the incident, Justice Nath refused to accept it. “It is inconceivable that a death has taken place due to electrocution from the distribution wires within the territory of respondent no.2 on a public street and respondent no.2 claims ignorance of such a major incident,” it said.
