SHAIL KUMARI Vs. M P ELECTRICITY BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of judgment of Addl. District Judge (10th), Bhopal passed in Regular Civil Suit No. 3-B/98 dated 3-5-1999.

(2.) Before adverting to the questions which call for consideration and determination in this case, it is desirable that some material facts of the case are narrated.

(3.) Smt. Shail Kumari (26) is wife of Jogendra Singh (deceased) and Deepak Kumar (7) is son of the deceased. They claimed compensation from the respondents for the death of Jogendra Singh by electrocution. Incident took place on 23-8-1997 when the deceased was going for duty on his bicycle and when he reached Sunder Nagar, naked electricity live wire of Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board (MPEB) was lying on the road and when the deceased got down from his bicycle, he came in contact with it and was electrocuted and died on the spot. Allegation is that Hari Gaikwad had been taking illegal electricity connection from the electric pole. It was the duty of the MPEB to maintain the electricity supply, but, it failed to discharge the duty cast on it nor it prevented Hari Gaikwad from taking illegal supply of electricity. It was due to the negligence of the respondent No. 1 that deceased died due to electrocution. At the time of death deceased was earning Rs. 3500/- per month through wages, out of which he used to spend Rs. 200/- per month on himself leaving Rs. 3300/- to the claimants. He was aged 37 years at the relevant time. The life expectancy of family members was 65 years and in case the deceased had not died untimely, he would have saved Rs. 9,10,800/- for the family. Besides, due to his untimely death, the family members have been deprived of love and affection to the extent of Rs. 25,000/- apart from other losses mentioned in the claim seeking total compensation of Rs. 9,60,800/- with interest at the rate of 18% per annum.