“Are individual flat owners liable to pay compensation to the family of a victim for an accident which occurred due to allegedly poor maintenance in their apartment complex?”
This is the question a Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra may soon answer. It assumes significance at a time when families are increasingly opting to move into high-rises that dot the urban landscape.
The issue of extent and share of liability of residents of apartment complex for accidents in their premises cropped up during the hearing of a case concerning the death of a young man, Rohan Pai, who worked for the Kingfisher Airlines.
On May 10, 2005, Rohan was about to enter a lift at Bhagwati House building in Andheri, Mumbai, where his office was situated. As he entered the lift, it abruptly moved up with its doors open. Rohan was partially caught inside the lift. He was finally extricated from the lift and rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead.
His father, P.G. Pai, filed a case of compensation for his son's death due to negligence. Mr. Pai contended that the safety door switch in the lift, with an inbuilt locking system on each floor, had been left disabled by the building's maintenance staff.
On January 7, 2015, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) ruled in favour of Mr. Pai. It ordered the "owners" of Andheri-based Bhagwati House and lift maintenance firm Care Elevators and Engineering Co Pvt Ltd, to jointly pay Mr. Pai Rs. 1.23 crore as compensation.
The maintenance company was asked to shell out 75% of the compensation while the flat owners the remaining 25%.
In their appeal, the flat owners, represented by senior advocate Indu Malhotra, asked how they were liable to pay any compensation.
"We are separate flat owners who live in the building. NCDRC assumes we are owners and managers of the building. This will become a serious precedent when individual house owners are made liable... we are being saddled with too much liability. In future, when something like this happens, everyone who is a house owner will become liable," Ms. Malhotra submitted.
