The Electricity Department is liable for negligence in maintaining electric poles.

The petitioner who is a poor and illiterate cultivator of 65 years has come up before this Court by means of this application under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents to pay him a sum of Rs. 3,00,000/- as compensation for the tragic death of his 21 years old son on 23-8-1988 in his village, namley, Tungou due to electrocution as his long waiting for about five years to get monetary help from the respondents ultimately turned out barren and sterile.

2. I have heard Miss. R.K. Sanatombi Devi, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and Mr. L. Shyamkishore Singh, the learned Government Advocate appearing on behalf of the respondents.

3. To appreciate the contentions of the learned counsel for the parties the facts material for the purpose of disposal of this application may be stated as under :-

The case of the petitioner is that his family consisted of his wife, three sons and one daughter and he used to earn the livelihood of the family by cultivation with the help of his sons. It is stated that virtually his two major sons, namely, A.S. Nganaomi and A.S. Mathew (deceased) were maintaining the family by doing cultivation works and some timber business. But on 23-8-1988 at about 10 a.m. when his second son, namely, A.S. Mathew was proceeding towards the paddy field along with others he was suddenly electrocuted in a domestic power line post which was erected in the heart of their village and he died in a split of moment. It is alleged that the electric post from which the petitioners son was electrocuted was erected in the heart of the village and prior to this incident some domestic animals were electrocuted from the same electric post and this fact was brought to the notice of the authorities. But the authorities turned a deaf-ear to the complaints that were made by the village headman.

4. After this incident a villager, namely, A.S. Kahangpam submitted a complaint to the Office-in-Charge, Ukhrul Police Station alleging that death of A.S. Mathew was caused due to shear negligence of the Electricity Department of the Ukhrul Division which had been warned of the danger time and again about this electric pole. On the basis of this complaint (Annexure A/1) Ukhrul P.S. registered a case being U.D. Case No. 7/88 and in course of investigation the Investigating Officer sent the dead body of A.S. Mathew to the Medical Officer for post mortem examination which showed that the deceased died due to electrocution on the aforesaid date and time. Thereafter the petitioner submitted an application to the Executive Engineer (Electrical), Ukhrul Division (Annexure A/4) for payment of ex gratia compensation to the bereaved family. But he did not get any favourable response. So, he approached the Honble Minister (Power) and also the local M.L.A. But even though the Executive Engineer assured the petitioner that he would get some ex gratia payment as compensation and that his eldest son would also be given a job, neither the Executive Engineer nor the authority paid any amount as ex gratia or offered any job to his eldest son. So, ultimately the petitioner approached this Court by this application for the reliefs as stated above.

5. The respondents resisted this writ petition by filing an affidavit-in-opposition wherein it has been denied that the accident occurred on account of the negligence of the Electricity Department. It has however, been averred that on that day there was a heavy rain fall with strong wind at about 1030 a.m. and as a result thereof high tension pole at Tungou village tilted towards a nearby low tension pole and incidentally the live high tension line touched the low tension pole and when deceased happened to touch that charged low tension pole on his way to the paddy field, he was electrocuted and died. It has, therefore, been stated that the incident occurred not because that the Electricity Department was at fault but because of someth