E C CHERIAN Vs. BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LITD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The defendant in O.S. No.262/2005 of the Munsiff's Court, Ettumanoor has come up by challenging the judgment and decree passed by the Additional District Court-I, Kottayam in A.S. No.24/2007.

(2.) The suit is one for damages. The Munsiff's Court, Ettumanoor partly decreed the suit by finding the entitlement of the plaintiff to get damages and at the same time, limiting the damages to nominal damages of Rs.5,000/-. Aggrieved by the quantification made by the trial court, the plaintiff preferred A.S. No.24/2007 before the District Court, Kottayam. The Additional District Court-I, Kottayam allowed the appellant to realise an amount of Rs.60,000/- with interest at the rate of 12% per annum from the date of suit till the date of realisation with costs, from the defendant and his assets and hence, this Second Appeal.

(3.) The plaintiff is Bharath Sanchar Nigam Limited (shortly called 'BSNL'). The case of the plaintiff is that the defendant, by exhibiting utter negligence, dug a portion of the road underneath which the BSNL optical fibre cable was drawn, thereby two numbers of hundred pair cables and four numbers of fifty pair cables were cut. The same had to be replaced. According to the plaintiff, standard rates all over India has been fixed for such damage to the optical fibre cables through Ext.A6, whereby the rates applicable to fifty pair cables and hundred pair cables is Rs.10,000/- per cut as damages. Therefore, according to the plaintiff, an amount of Rs.60,000/- by way of damages can be recovered from the defendant.