Employers are liable for construction negligence leading to employee injury or death, but mere error of judgment without willful negligence does not invoke punitive damages.

JUDGMENT :

JYOTI SINGH, J.

1. This suit is filed on behalf of the Plaintiffs seeking compensatory damages of Rs.50 lakhs to Plaintiffs who are legal heirs of the deceased workers and to those Plaintiffs who were grievously injured in the incident of 12.07.2009. Compensation to the tune of Rs. 25 lakhs is claimed for Plaintiffs who suffered minor injuries. Exemplary damages are sought for the alleged reckless act of the Defendants in proportion to their net worth along with costs of the proceedings, amongst other reliefs.

2. It is stated in the plaint that an accident that took place at around 05:00 AM on 12.07.2009 at Delhi Metro construction site in Zamrudpur, New Delhi, where Pillar No. 67 (‘Pillar-67’) of the elevated metro railway track collapsed, resulting in death of seven individuals, including six daily wage labourers and one site engineer and serious injuries to 15 others. The victims were engaged as construction workers by Defendant No.1/Gammon India Private Ltd. (‘Gammon’), which was awarded the contract to carry out the work of the project under the supervision of Defendant No.2/Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (‘DMRC’). Plaintiffs include those who suffered injuries as also those who are dependants/legal heirs of 06 deceased workers.

3. It is stated in that collapse of Pillar-67 was not a result of any natural cause/calamity or sabotage or unavoidable accident but was a direct consequence of gross negligence of and breach of duty by the Defendants as well as reckless disregard for safety protocols. Admittedly, cracks had developed in Pillar-67 prior to its collapse and this fact was well known to both the Defendants and albeit initially the work was stopped, it was resumed after two months overlooking the clear warning signs and without conducting essential safety and structural integrity tests such as load testing, thereby exposing the workers to risk, only to meet the deadline for the Commonwealth Games.

4. It is stated that the impact of collapse of a 200-ton mass was so much that the entire road underneath carved in. The collapse was either due to faulty design or use of inferior and sub-standard material by Gammon or both. The incident took place when Gammon was carrying out construction to connect Central Secretariat with Badarpur. 10 segments were to be erected in the concerned stretch, of which 5 had been completed and when the 6^th segment was being erected, the launching girder collapsed causing a portion of the bridge to fall. Defendants acted negligently and recklessly and did not care to follow the construction guidelines/norms, as per which the faulty design and/or the visible cracks in Pillar 67 ought to have been rectified immediately and the cantilever should have been repaired without any delay. The structure supporting the girder was not properly designed which also contributed to the collapse coupled with faulty erection of the girder.

5. It is stated that neither any first aid facilities nor ambulances were available at the construction site and the rescue operations were far from satisfactory. Bodies of workers who died were extricated with JCB equipment/tools and hand implements, which was a completely inhuman approach and the same procedure was followed for those workers who were alive and buried under the malba and this further periled the