HC grants `20L aid to disabled electrician

New Delhi, Aug. 25: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday awarded `20 lakh as compensation to an electrician who was left 100 per cent disabled after falling from an electricity pole here and directed that a provisional store be opened for his benefit from the amount.

The high court said the compensation amount has to be paid in equal parts by BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), which distributed electricity in certain parts of Delhi, and M/s Bryn Construction Company (Bryn) which was carrying out repair and maintenance works for BRPL. Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhai said that although the now 28year-old electrician Bharat was living, he was barely alive and directed the State of Uttar Pradesh, where he now resided, to continue to provide to him disability pension, free physiotherapy and occupational therapy and other assistance as may be given to him from time-to-time.

Bharat suffered a fall in the course of performing the task assigned to him by Bryn (M/s Bryn Construction Company), which has resulted in him being rendered 100 per cent disabled. Today Bharat is unable to perform even the most basic, personal, daily chores himself and is all but 100 per cent dependent on others; and as a result, though Bharat is living, he is barely alive, the judge said.

This sum of `20 lakh shall be paid by Bryn and BRPL to Bharat in two equal parts within four weeks from the date of this judgement by depositing the same into a new account in the name of ‘Bharat Singh’, the court ordered. It added that the victim would also be entitled to retain the entire balance lying in a savings account and fixed deposit opened under the instructions of the court in 2016.

In 2014, then 21-year-old Bharat, while working as an electrician with Bryn, suffered a fall while rectifying a fault in an electricity pole that was causing fluctuation in the electricity supply at a farmhouse in Bijwasan, New Delhi. The accident was caused after the electricity pole that he had climbed on, snapped and fell.

In the petition before the court, Bharat’s father stated that his son was virtually bed-ridden and was unable to perform any daily chores on his own.