Hunufa Begum v. The Chief General Manager (D) Apdcl and 6 Ors

ORDER Date : 12.06.2023

Heard Mr. A. Rashid, learned counsel for the petitioners, Mr. J.K. Goswami, learned standing counsel for respondent nos. 1 to 4, and Ms. S. Sarma, learned Govt. advocate appearing for respondent nos. 5, 6 and 7.

¶2By filing this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner who has lost his son due to electrocution on 10.03.2022 is seeking direction upon the respondent authorities to pay compensation to the petitioner.

¶3The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the son of the petitioner, namely, Late Hunidul Hoque aged 16 years, touched the fencing of the tin house of his maternal uncle on 10.03.2022, which somehow came into contact with the live wire and on touching the tin fencing of the house, the son of the petitioner was electrocuted. Accordingly, the FIR was lodged on

10.03.2022 and accordingly, Baghbar PS UD Case No. 3/2022 was registered and investigated. It is submitted that the APDCL authorities had installed electricity connection in the house of the maternal uncle of the deceased in a negligent manner without providing adequate provisions for earthing and therefore, it is submitted that the petitioner would be entitled to compensation Page No.# 3/4 on the death of his son.

¶4Per contra, the learned Govt. advocate appearing for the Chief Electrical Inspector has referred to the "detail accident report" dated 07.05.2022 submitted by the Electrical Inspector (Senior Grade), Govt. of Assam and has submitted that the son of the petitioner had came into contact with the live naked wire on the "load side" when he tried to mishandle temporary internal wiring in the house which resulted in his death. It is submitted that the finding of Electrical Inspector (Senior Grade) was to the effect that there was non-compliance of Regulation of 19(3) on part of the victim and 13(1) on part of the supplier of the Central Electricity Authority (Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply) Regulations, 2010 on part of the victim.

¶5From the report of the Electrical Inspector (Senior Grade), Govt. of Assam, it appears that the deceased came into contact with live naked wire on the "load side" when he tried to mishandle temporary internal wiring in his house and got electrocuted. As per the statement of the local residents of the village, referred to in the said report, the head/ face of the son of the petitioner came into contact with a switch board in a room which was fixed on the wall of room made of C.I. sheets and as the walls got electrified, it got resulted in the death of the son of the petitioner. However, when the Electrical Inspector (Senior Grade) conducted the inspection, he did not find any wiring etc. in the said room and also no earthing was found in the house premises. Therefore, the son of the petitioner appears to have mishandled the electricity live wire which had caused such electrocution.

¶6Therefore, the Court is of the considered opinion that the petitioner would not be entitled to compensation from the APDCL for the unfortunate electricity accident, which has caused the death of the son of the petitioner as the son of Page No.# 4/4 the petitioner have found to have been mishandling the temporary electrical connection in the house for which he was not licensed. Therefore, this writ petition stands dismissed. There shall be no order as to cost.

¶7The Registry shall tag the affidavit filed by the petitioner on 24.05.2023 on record.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010144182022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/4799/2022o HUNUFAoBEGUMo W/O-oLATEoMUNSERoALI,oVILL.-oSATRAKONARA,oSEAToNO.o15,oP.S.o BAGHBOR,oDIST.oBARPETA,oPIN-o781308. VERSUSo THEoCHIEFoGENERALoMANAGERo(D)oAPDCLoANDo6oORS.o LAR,oBIJULEEoBHAWAN,oPALTANBAZAR,oGUWAHATI-781001. 2:THEoGENERALoMANAGER oBONGAIGAONoZONE oAPDCLo(LAR)oBONGAIGAON-783385. 3:THEoCHIEFoEXECUTIVEoOFFICER oBARPETAoELECTRICALoCIRCLE oAPDCLo(LAR) oBARPETA-781301. 4:THEoASSISTANToGENERALoMANAGER oBARPETAoELECTRICALoDIVISION oAPDCLo(LAR) oBARPETA-781301. 5:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oBARPETA oPIN-o781301. 6:THEoCHIEFoELECTRICALoINSPECTORoCUMoADVISOR oHOUSEFED oSTATEoOFoASSAM oGUWAHATI-06. Page No.# 2/4 7:THE OFFICER-IN-CHARGE BAGHBOR POLICE STATION BARPETA-781308 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. A ROSHID Advocate for the Respondent : SC, APDCL BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KALYAN RAI SURANA