Chennai: The Madras high court awarded Rs 10.38 lakh as compensation to the family of an auto driver electrocuted at Kodungaiyur on January 10, 2013. Allowing a petition filed by Kumari, wife of the deceased, Justice S.Vaidyanathan directed the Chennai corporation to pay the compensation to her within three months.
Kumari stated in her petition that her husband was the sole bread winner of the family. He used to go to a nearby shop every morning to buy milk. On January 10, 2013, as usual, he did so.
Without knowing that the electricity cable was cut and lying on the road unattended, her husband trod on the electricity cable and was electrocuted due to high voltage current passing into him.
He was taken to hospital where the doctor declared him brought dead. The FIR and the death report showed that he died of electrocution. TNEB employees’ lackadaisical approach in maintaining the electricity cable had resulted in the death of her husband, she added.
The TNEB and Chennai corporation disputed liability and argued that only the civil court had the jurisdiction to decide the case. The judge said taking into consideration, the injury sustained by the petitioner’s husband who died, and in view of the judgment in the R.Pareetha Beevi case, where this court had awarded compensation to the victim’s legal representatives on account of loss of life due to electrocution, this court feels that the authorities have to pay suitable compensation to the petitioner.
There was no codified law for arriving at the quantum of compensation in these types of cases. Enactments like the Motor Vehicles Act, the Workmen’s Compensation Act and the Fatal Accidents Act may be applied for arriving at a just compensation.
Accordingly, while applying the decision of the Supreme Court pertaining to motor accident cases, the judge fixed the monthly income of the deceased as Rs 6,500 and following the ratio laid down by the Supreme Court, arrived at a compensation of Rs 10.38 lakh.
