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HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT

JODHPUR

S.B. Civil First Appeal No. 75/1995

1. Rajasthan State Electricity Board, Rajasthan Jaipur.

2. Assistant Engineer, Rajasthan State Electricity Board,

Bhinder, Udaipur. ----Appellants-Defendants

Versus

1. Varda S/o Nanji, R/o Javtari, Tehsil Vallabh Nagar, Distt.

Udaipur.

2. Uda S/o Varda, R/o Javtari, Tehsil Vallabh Nagar, Distt.

Udaipur. ----Respondents-Plaintiffs

For Appellant(s) : Mr. Vikram Choudhary

For Respondent(s) : Mr. Kailash Trivedi

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP TANEJA

Judgment

Date of Conclusion of Arguments 22.05.2026

Date on which judgment was reserved 22.05.2026

Whether the full judgment or only Full Judgment

operative part is pronounced

Date of Pronouncement 30.06.2026

1. The present civil first appeal has been filed by the

defendants-appellants (for short ‘appellants’), under Section 96

read with Order XLI Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908,

assailing the judgment and decree dated 28.02.1995 passed by

the learned Additional District Judge No. 1, Udaipur (for short ‘Trial

Court’) in Case No. 162/1991, whereby the civil suit for

compensation filed by the plaintiffs-respondents (for short

‘respondents’) under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1955, was partly

decreed.

2. A cross-objection under Order XLI Rule 22 of the Code of

Civil Procedure, 1908 has been preferred by the respondents for

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enhancement of the amount of compensation so awarded by the

learned Trial Court.

3. The brief facts of the case giving rise to the present appeal

are that the respondents filed a civil suit against the appellants,

pleading therein that electrical line situated in village Javtari,

Tehsil Vallabhnagar, District Udaipur was in a bad condition and

the appellants were not paying enough attention to it and were

being negligent. On 09.04.1991, at around 4 AM, when Punjki

(since deceased) was going to attend to nature’s call, a broken

live wire was lying on the ground and she came in contact with the

same. On account of being electrocuted, she started shouting,

hearing which, her neighbour Ganpat @ Ganga went to help her,

but he also got electrocuted and resultantly, both of them died

due to electrocution. The respondents further stated that the

accident occurred due to negligence, carelessness and inaction of

the appellants and its employees, as when the wire fell down due

to rusting, the appellants’ employees paid no attention to the

same; they neither cut off the power supply nor warned the public

about the broken live wire, rather left the broken live wire lying on

the ground in a populated area, causing the accident and the loss

of two innocent lives. The respondents claimed a compensation of

Rs.88,200/- under various heads, on account of death of deceased

Punjki.

4. The appellants submitted written statement denying the

contention raised by the respondents in the plaint. It was pleaded

that there was no negligence on the part of the appellants in

maintaining the electricity line. It was stated that in the

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appellants’ department, there is a provision that the maintenance

of the electric line is required to be done before Diwali and also

before the beginning of rainy season. It was further stated that on

the date of the accident i.e., 09.04.1991, the electric wire broke

and fell on the ground on account of heavy storm which occurred

on midnight of 08.04.1991, due to which several trees also broke

and fell on the ground. The appellants also stated that they were

not informed of this, and thereby neither the broken live electricity

wire was removed nor the power supply was immediately cut off,

however, after getting information in the morning, the electricity

supply was cut off. It was also stated that the accident took place

due to the negligence of the deceased herself as she was

carelessly walki