New Delhi, Jul 30 The Delhi High Court has awarded over Rs 16 lakh as compensation to the kin of a 10-year-old boy who died after drowning in a sewage pit in September 2014.
Justice Mini Pushkarna directed the Delhi government and the Delhi Jal Board to pay Rs 16.92 lakh, along with interest of 9 per cent per annum, to the mother and father of the deceased, stating that the authorities were "clearly negligent" as they failed to secure their work site which had open and uncovered pits.
Sewerage-related work was being undertaken at the site of the incident near Bhagirathi Vihar Canal at the behest of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), where the minor son of the petitioners drowned in a pit of dirty water.
Justice Pushkarna rejected the authorities' claim that there were boundary walls and other safety measures at the site, and observed that the chargesheet filed in the related criminal case and facts showed that proper measures were not taken to stop access of the general public to the work site.
The judge also junked their plea of "contributory negligence", stating that a ten-year-old cannot be expected to appreciate the dangers of an uncovered pit, in the same manner as an adult.
"The site in question, being accessed by persons living in the locality on a regular basis, juxtaposed with the fact that the accessibility of the site was such that even children could enter the same, leads to the inevitable conclusion that measures were not taken by the respondents to stop access to the site," said the court in its judgement passed on July 27.
"The negligence on part of the respondents is apparent. There is a clear violation of the fundamental right, i.e., Right to Life as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution," it held.
In their petition filed in 2019, the petitioners, i.e. the father and mother of the deceased, sought Rs 40 lakh as damages, including interest, from the authorities for the death of their son. While the father of the deceased was a labourer, the mother said she was a homemaker.
Opposing the petition, the DJB contended that Engineers India Limited (EIL) was the agency carrying out the civil work through another private party, and therefore, it had no role of any sort at the site of the incident.
EIL, on the other hand, said it was the private party that was the contractor and was responsible for ensuring the safety of life and property on the site.
In the judgement, Justice Pushkarna said this was a "classic case" of the state authorities displaying apathy towards the child's death by trying to shift the burden to each other despite apparent glaring negligence in not securing the work site.
The judge said when young children lose their lives due to the government authorities' failure to provide adequate safety measures, it points to the "fundamental breakdown of civic governance" and amounts to a violation of the fundamental right to life.
The court held that all the parties played an active role in the project and they cannot seek to absolve themselves.
Rejecting their claim of "contributory negligence", the court said, " The respondents, who are public authorities and their Contractor, owed a higher duty of care to the public, especially, to children who are naturally attracted to open spaces and who cannot be expected to recognise manmade dangers left unguarded."
"Hence, the respondents failed to take measures which could have prevented such a mishap and have been clearly negligent..In view of the aforesaid, the respondent nos. 1 and 2, i.e., GNCTD and the DJB respectively, are directed to pay an amount of Rs. 16,92,511 along with simple interest @ 9% per annum from the date of filing of the writ petition, till the date of realization," the court ordered.
The court clarified that it had not fixed the inter se liability between the parties and whether the amount payable by the Delhi government and the DJB was recoverable from the other parties was left open.
