The Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to pay ₹20 lakh as compensation to the legal heirs of the mother and son who died after falling into a waterlogged open drain in east Delhi’s Ghazipur in July.
“Counsel for the DDA said that without prejudice to its rights and contentions and without admitting any liability on its part, as a humanitarian gesture, it is willing to pay ₹20 lakh to the legal heirs of the deceased, namely Tanuja and Priyansh,” the court said in the order.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) plea filed by Jhunnu Lal Srivastava, a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase 3, for action against the contractor and DDA officials for their alleged negligence which caused the death of the 22-year-old woman and her three-year-old son.
The duo had drowned in the half-open, under-construction drain in a waterlogged street in Ghazipur after heavy rain lashed the Capital on the evening of July 31.
Chargesheet prepared
The Delhi police submitted in court that a draft chargesheet has been prepared in the criminal case, and that the final chargesheet will be filed after it receives a sanction from the competent authorities to prosecute the officials responsible for the accident.
The counsel for the police had earlier submitted in the court that it was a DDA contractor who had left the drain uncovered after undertaking some work there.
The court had also taken on record the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s assurance that all repair, redevelopment and construction work in the area where the incident took place will be completed by December this year.
After perusing photographs of the drain, the court remarked that the site was “still quite dirty”, and asked the civic body to get it cleaned quickly as “dengue is spreading in Delhi”.
The court had last month ordered that the open drains there be barricaded, adding that the incident had occurred due to “criminal negligence”.
Published - September 06, 2024 12:50 am IST
