Pay Rs 20 lakh compensation for drain deaths in Ghazipur Delhi HC tells DDA- The Week

New Delhi, Sept 5 (PTI) – The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the DDA to pay Rs 20 lakh as compensation to the legal heirs of the mother-son duo who died after falling into a flooded drain in July.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA)'s legal counsel had initially said it was ready to pay Rs 1.5 million in compensation to the victims' families. However, a court headed by acting Chief Justice Manmohan urged a payment of Rs 2 million, saying that this was the “customary practice”.
“The counsel for the DDA submitted that without prejudice to his rights and claims and without any liability on his part, as a humanitarian gesture, he was ready to pay Rs 20 lakh to the legal heirs of the deceased, namely Tanuja and Priyansh,” the bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, said in the order.
The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Jhunnu Lal Srivastava, a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase 3. The plaintiff sought legal action against the builder and the DDA officials for their alleged negligence which led to the death of the woman and her three-year-old son.
Tanuja (22) and her son Priyansh drowned in a half-open under-construction drain on a flooded street in east Delhi's Ghazipur district when heavy rains lashed Delhi-NCR on the evening of July 31.
Delhi Police said a draft chargesheet had been prepared for criminal proceedings in connection with the deaths and the final chargesheet would be filed after obtaining approval from the authorities concerned to prosecute the officials responsible.
The police lawyer had previously explained to the court that it was a DDA contractor who left the drain open at the accident scene after carrying out some work there.
In view of the authorities' attitude, the Court concluded that no further orders were necessary and closed the proceedings in the case.
It was also recorded that MCD has undertaken to complete all repair, rehabilitation and construction work in the area where the incident occurred by December.
The court examined photographs of the drains and concluded that the spot was “still quite dirty” and asked the civic body to get it cleaned as “dengue is spreading in Delhi”.
Last month, the court had taken the DDA to task in connection with the death of a mother-son duo, observing that the officials had failed to “supervise” the work being carried out by the contractor there as he had allegedly failed to cover certain parts of the drain.
The DDA's lawyer was then asked to obtain instructions regarding the payment of compensation to the victims' family before the next hearing.
Earlier, the police had informed the court that an FIR had been filed for violating Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for causing death by negligence.