The administration has a common law duty to take reasonable care to prevent harm to its citizens. If the administration breaches this duty and someone is injured or killed as a result, the administration may be held liable for damages.

V.K.BALI, J.

1. Dereliction of duty which results in a precious life being taken away, rendering the guarantee under Article 21 of the Constitution of India as illusory as also violation of abandonment of common law duty of reasonable care guides us to compensate Shri Abhinandan Dass, father of a three years old female child who died by drowning in an uncovered manhole.

2. Punjab Civil and Consumer Welfare Front (Regd.) which is social, voluntary, non-governmental, non-political, consumer organisation striving hard to protect the rights of citizens in general and consumers in particular along with Shri Abhinandan Dass has filed the present petition seeking issuance of writ in the nature of mandamus directing respondents to pay compensation of Rupees Two Lakhs to petitioner No. 2 on account of tragic death of a three year old female child of the said petitioner. It has inter alia been pleaded that the President of the petitioner-organisation happened to read a news item in a local daily published from Chandigarh on 7-7-1997 which reported the death of three years old daughter of petitioner No. 2 by drowning in an uncovered manhole in village Palsora-U. T. Chandigarh. Petitioner-organisation then decided to approach petitioner No. 2 to console him for the mishap. When the President of the organisation met petitioner No. 2 on 12-7-1997, she was badly disturbed to see the plight of the mother of the child and the poverty of petitioner No. 2 who happened to be a migrant labour from U. P. and was not in a position to spend on the ailment of his wife what to talk of filing any litigation to claim compensation. It is in these circumstances that the petitioner-organisation on consent of petitioner No. 2 decided to file the present petition.

3. Petitioner No. 2 is a resident of village Palsora, U. T. Chandigarh for the last five years. He is residing there with his wife and two infant children. Petitioner No. 2 migrated from U. P. and would earn his livelhiood by daily wages and had no financial back up whatsoever. Colony No. 2 where petitioner No. 2 has Jhuggi presents a sorry state of affair. Most of the roads and internal streets in the colony are badly damage and insanitary conditions due to stinking drains and uncovered manholes have caused an alarming danger to the public life. Repeated complaints and representations by the residents to the concerned authorities had fallen on deaf ears. Number of manholes put on in the very middle of the internal streets do not have any boundary wall or any cover to avoid any mishappening. Due to laxity on the part of respondents three years old daughter of the petitioner Abhinandan Dass, while returning to her Jhuggi after attending to call of nature at about 7.30 p.m. on the fateful evening fell into one uncovered manhole which became a death trap for her and she vanished within no time. Great hue and cry was raised and many persons tried to find her out. Police and the fire-brigade persons were called and a battery of social workers and neighbours of petitioner No. 2 started search operation, while the police stood a silent spectator and registered a daily Diary Report No. 34 dated 5-7-1997. Rescue operation continued the whole night and it was only at 6 A.M. on 6th July, 1997 that the dead body of the child was recovered amidst high-pitched cries of the mother and other relatives of the deceased. The police of Police Station Sector 39, Chandigarh took the dead body for post-mortem examination and after post-mortem examination was done in general hospital and dead body was handed over to petitioner No. 2 around 2 P.M. the same was cremated in Sector 25 Cremation Ground on the same day. On the next date all major newspapers widely covered the tragedy but the incident evoked a lukewarm response from the Chandigarh Administration, even though few workers of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh were seen hurriedly closing the said manhole where tragic incident had taken place. Respondent N