PARAMJIT KAUR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a case wherein one Sh. Lajja Ram aged 34 years was returning to his village from Chandigarh on his motor cycle after selling milk on the fateful day i. e. 4-5-2007 at about 10. 30 p. m. on the road from village Parol to village Nangal. When he was some distance away from his village Chhoti-Bari Nangal a live electricity wire of 11 KV, which was lying across the road came in contact with the motor cycle. Due to such high volt of electricity, the motor cycle got entangled resulting in death of Lajja Ram at the spot and the motor cycle damaged. Due to the electrical current, the body of the deceased was badly burnt. On hearing a noise, several villagers reached at the spot. Police also reached there and after getting the line disconnected, the body of the deceased was removed by the police and DDR No. 39 dated 5-5-2007 was lodged at Police Station mullanpur. Postmortem was conducted on the deceased on 5-5-2007 and the opinion of the doctor regarding cause of death is as follows : "opinion :- In my opinion death occurred due to cardio respiratory failure due to electric current. All injuries are antemortem in nature and sufficient to cause death in ordinary course of nature. Probable time that elapsed :- (A) Between injury and death - Immediate (B) Between death and within 24 hrs. post-mortem examination dated 5-5-2007. Signature of Doctor. Sd/- Dr. Harpeet place of posting m. 0. Ch. H. , Kharar. "

(2.) THIS petition has been filed by Smt. Paramjit Kaur, widow of Sh. Lajja Ram, her three minor children, namely, Jaswinder kaur, Parminder Singh, Parveen Kumar and smt. Dropati, mother of deceased Sh. Lajja ram, praying for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to pay compensation to the petitioners, who have lost their bread earner due to negligence of the Punjab State Electricity Board and its officials.

(3.) IT is stated that Sh. Lajja Ram died on 4-5-2007 due to electrocution when he came in contact with the live wire of 11 KV. Sh. Lajja Ram deceased was a matriculate. By selling milk and running dairy as well as cultivating land pf others on batai/theka, he was earning about Rs. 25,000/- per month. After the djeath of the deceased Sh. Lajja Ram, the petitioners have been rendered moneyless with no earnings and their life has become miserable. They are finding difficult to make the ends meet. Their life has been ruined for no fault of theirs or that of Sh. Lajja Ram deceased, due to negligence and ill maintenance of the electrical system by the Punjab State Electricity Board. The sole earner of their family has been killed. They have prayed for grant of compensation so that they are able to survive and live a life with reasonable dignity.