The court can award interim compensation for injury due to electrocution under public law jurisdiction; full compensation requires evidentiary assessment in a competent court.

(Oral)

VINOD S. BHARDWAJ, J.

The present petition has been filed for issuance of directions to respondents to pay compensation to the petitioner, who lost both his arms, on account of electrocution. It has been averred that it was on account of the failure on part of the respondent-Transmission licensee to maintain the transmission lines at a safe height and condition and as a result of the same the said incident in question took place.

2. Counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner is a resident of village Belarkha, Tehsil Narwana, District Jind and aged 24 years. He possesses the qualification of Senior Secondary and has successfully completed diploma in electrical trade from the National Council for Vocational Training. Father of the petitioner is a small farmer having one acre of land. The petitioner was thus working at an electrical shop in the name of M/s Balaji Electrical, Sector-2, Panchkula to earn his livelihood and was earning Rs. 25,000/- to Rs.40,000/- per month. Being a technically qualified person, he was also pursuing for a government job. On 03.01.2018, the petitioner had gone to his native village Belarkha, which is at a distance of about 8 K.M. from Narwana. He visited Narwana to purchase household articles on 04.01.2018. He sat down at Hotel Blue Bird alongwith an old friend for snacks. There was no electricity on account of fault in the main line. A complaint in this regard had been registered with the respondent- distribution licensee. One of the official visited the spot to carry out the repair. When the petitioner and his friend came out from the Hotel at around 3:30 P.M., they noticed that there was a sparking in the electric pole in front of the Hotel and within a small span, there was a loud spark and the live broken electricity wire fell on the petitioner which hit his stomach, eyes and both hands causing severe burns on various body parts. The adjacent shopkeepers and passerby gathered at the spot and brought the petitioner to the Civil Hospital, Narwana from where he was shifted to Agroha Medical College. Finding no improvement, he was admitted to Jindal Institute of Medical Sciences at Hisar. The kidney and other body parts of the petitioner were badly damaged and he remained unconscious for about 10-15 days. Life of the petitioner could be saved only after amputating his arms from above the elbow. The petitioner thus suffered 100% disability in the said incident. The disability certificate has been appended alongwith the present petition. It is also averred that the petitioner was under treatment and in an unconscious state when the police personnel visited the hospital on 2/3 occasions. The statement of the petitioner thus could not be recorded. The father of the petitioner gave a statement to the police authorities on the basis of whatever had been told to him and in a distressed state of mind. Signatures of his father were obtained on certain blank papers on the pretext of completion of formalities. He contends that his father signed the said documents in good faith and without going through the contents of the same. He further contends that the petitioner got married in the year 2014 and is having one minor daughter aged about 02 years and a minor sister who is student of Class 7^th apart from old parents. It is alleged that incident in question took place on account of the negligence of the respondent- distribution licensee in maintaining the transmission line in a safe condition and by ensuring a regular maintenance thereof. The cable had thus become weak over a passage of time and b