The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court while directing Power Development Department to provide over Rs 30 lakh as compensation to a north Kashmir kid left crippled because of a 33,000 KV HT shock rejected the claim of PDD that the victim’s father raised the 3rd storey of his residential house after the laying of HT line in Mantrigam Bandipora.
The observations were made by Justice Javaid Iqbal Wani while hearing a plea in terms of which the petitioner Aatif Irshad Kumar (victim) had sought direction upon the respondents including Power Development Department (PDD), Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) and National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) for providing him compensation for his permanent disability caused to him due to electrocution.
The petitioner, a six-year-old kid from Mantrigam Bandipora through his counsel Advocate Bashir Ahmed Tak had filed a petition in the court of law stating that in the year 2018 the petitioner came in direct contact with live 33000 KV HT line passing through an adjacent to his residential house situated at Mantrigam Bandipora when he was playing with some metallic object in the 3rd storey of his house.
The residential house was constructed in the year 2008 and the 33000 KV HT line was laid by the PDD in 2012 for the Kishan Ganga Power House maintained by NHPC with the help of HCC.
The said HT line as per the petitioner was knowingly installed despite objections raised by the inhabitants of the village including the father of the victim.
The victim petitioner suffered severe burnt injuries on account of electrocution and lakhs of rupees were incurred on his medical expenses by his father. He was hospitalized in Srinagar and New Delhi without any help from the Bandipora administration or PDD, HCC and NHPC.
The said victim was operated a number of times resulting in the amputation of his right hand, the thumb of the left hand, and the finger of the right foot, besides burnt injuries to the whole body. The disability suffered by the victim petitioner was evaluated and assessed by Medical Board to the extent of 90 percent.
After hearing the arguments from the petitioner’s Counsel and the Counsels for PDD, HCC and NHPC, the court of Justice Javaid Iqbal Wani observed that It is an admitted fact emerging from the pleadings of the parties that the victim petitioner has got electrocuted, becoming 90 percent disabled. He observed the claim that the father of the victim petitioner had constructed 3rd storey of his residential house in close proximity of the HT line in question having been laid in the year 2012 is not based on any proof and there is no documentary evidence supporting the said assertion.
In reference to various judgments from the Apex Court, Justice Javaid Iqbal Wani commanded the respondents to pay Rs 30,20,000 (Thirty Lakh and Twenty Thousand only) along with interest at the rate of 6 percent per annum from the date of filing of the petition till the date of actual deposit to the victim petitioner by depositing the same in a Fixed Deposit Account in the name of the victim petitioner (minor) represented by his father as a natural guardian till the age of attaining majority by the victim petitioner in a nationalized bank.
The court further said that the monthly interest that would be earned on the amount of compensation during the period of minority of the victim petitioner shall be withdrawn by the father of the victim petitioner and spent upon the victim petitioner as monthly expenses including treatment.
