JUDGMENT :

N. Kotiswar Singh, J.

1. The present appeal has been preferred by the State of Nagaland against the judgment and order dated 15.11.2019 passed in WPC No. 179/2016 being aggrieved primarily with the direction of the Ld. Single Judge in awarding an exemplary compensation of a sum of Rs. 25 lakhs to the writ petitioner, respondent no. 1 herein for the death of his mother and the unborn baby, contending to be on a higher side.

2. Before we examine the issues raised in this appeal, it may be apposite to refer to the relevant facts of the case in brief.

3. Petitioner's mother namely, late Bemang who was pregnant with the seventh child, had labour pain at about 2 AM on 11.07.2016 and during the labour one of the arms of the baby emerged from the birth canal. However, as the baby could not be taken out completely, she was taken to the district hospital at Mon which is located about 130 km away from the village. Unfortunately, the mother died on the way to the hospital with the stillborn baby.

4. Alleging utter lack of health infrastructure in the village, various health care projects existing only on paper, negligence on the part of the authorities to provide necessary healthcare and services in the village, the petition has been filed for improving the medical infrastructure in the village and for award of Rs. 10,000,000/- as an exemplary compensation on account of the death of the mother and for ensuring the health and education of the surviving children and other reliefs relating to health care services which are quite comprehensive in nature.

5. Specific allegations have been made in the petition that the sub-centre in the village was in a deplorable condition and hardly functional without adequate medicines and personnel to man the same. Because of the dysfunctional sub-centre, the pregnancy could not be registered with the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) or with the Anganwadi Centres, alleged the petitioner. It has been also alleged that due to the poor healthcare or virtually non-existent healthcare facility available in the village, or the nearby Primary Heath Centre, three of the children born to the petitioner's mother died in early childhood because of diseases contracted by them.

6. According to the petitioner, there are many health schemes under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), like Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), a 100% centrally sponsored scheme, Janani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) etc., conceived and implemented across the country, which have not be implemented in the village thus denying valuable healthcare assistance to the villagers. It has been also alleged that various beneficial schemes like National Maternity Benefit Scheme are also not been properly implemented in the State.

The petitioner has thus, portrayed a grim and sombre picture of the abysmal healthcare system not only in the petitioner's district but also across the State of Nagaland.

According to the petitioner, these lapses and irregularities denying proper healthcare leading to the death of people like the petitioner's mother amounts to violation of right to life as enshrined in the Constitution under Article 21.

7. The State respondent filed their affidavit in opposition denying the allegations made in the writ petition. It has been specifically contended on the part of the State that there has been no complaints/representations/demands received from the petitioner or any other individual regarding any shortcoming in the healthcare system and also has questioned the maintainability of the writ petition for the purpose of grant of compensation.

8. The Ld. Single Judge after hearing the parties discussed exhaustively the various beneficial provisions of the healthcare schemes particularly with reference to Janani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) and noted the benefits to be extended to pregnant women at the pre and postnatal stages free of cost to reduce mortality of women and infants and to ensure good health to mothers and infan