JUDGMENT

S.B. MAJMUDAR, J.—This is a petition by the widow of deceased Ram Naresh Yadav under Article 32 of the Constitution of India against Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking, Life Insurance Corporation of India and M/s Fixwell Push-in-cords Pvt. Ltd., praying for appropriate directions against the respondents to award to the petitioner suitable compensation of Rs 5 lakhs on account of the death of her husband which according to her was caused by criminal negligence on the part of Respondent 1.

2. This is an unfortunate case in which a young and sole breadwinner of the petitioners family was lost on account of a tragic accident in which he got electrocuted by a live wire of electricity which was being supplied at the spot by Respondent 1, the Undertaking. That left the petitioner a young widow and three small children destitute. A few relevant facts leading to these proceedings may be noted at this stage. The deceased husband of the petitioner got employment as gardener in the organisation of Respondent 3, which is situated at Village Dhundahera. The husband of the petitioner was staying at Village Kapashera on the outskirts of New Delhi. The wife of the deceased along with her three children, namely, Anil Kumar (son) aged about 18 years, Anita Kumari (daughter) aged about 16 years and Sunita Kumari (daughter) aged about 9 years was staying in their Village Atepur. The deceased was the only earning member in their family and was maintaining them.

3. The petitioners husband got a policy of life insurance for an amount of Rs 25,000 and his life was insured against accidental death by Respondent 2-Corporation. According to the petitioner her husband was regularly paying the insurance premia.

4. On 8-7-1993 a live main electricity cable/wire which was resting on an electricity pole at Village Kapashera had got snapped and was lying in the rainy and waterlogged village. Various complaints were made by the residents of the Village Kapashera to the officers of Respondent 1 which was statutorily bound to maintain electric installation lines in proper condition. Local police was also informed regarding the disconnection of live wire resulting in leakage of electricity and threat to the lives of the people in their area.

5. According to the petitioner all these requests fell on deaf ears of Respondent 1 which did not take any action in this regard. In the evening when Ram Naresh Yadav was returning from the place of employment, when he was not aware of the electricity leakage, he came in contact with the live cable and got electrocuted on the spot and he died instantaneously. This according to the petitioner was on account of criminal negligence on the part of Respondent 1. As this disaster has left the petitioner and her young children destitute, the present petition is moved under Article 32 of the Constitution presumably relying upon petitioners fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution which have got adversely affected on account of the negligent act of the officials of Respondent 1 herein. She has also claimed appropriate reliefs from Respondent 2. This petition was treated to have been admitted to final hearing. We have heard the learned advocates for the parties in support of their respective cases. Having heard them we felt that it is a fit case for invoking our jurisdiction power under Article 142 of the Constitution of India for giving appropriate relief to the petitioner, a destitute widow of the deceased and her young/minor children. So far as Respondent 1 is concerned it is true that the question of negligence of officials of Respondent 1 can be properly examined in a suit where correct facts can be established but as that would involve long delay and the misery of the petitioner and her young children who were stranded in life would linger on we suggest to the learned counsel for Respondent 1 to give a reasonable amount ex gratia to the petitioner and her young children so that their misery can be to some extent