HC puts Home Secy, MC Commissioner on notice

Jaswinder Singh Baidwan

Akhran da mureed
Staff member
Just over a year after a compensation of Rs 8 lakh was ordered for the parents of a young student from Burail, who drowned in a pond in a Sector 33 park a decade ago, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has put UT Home Secretary Anurag Aggarwal and MC Commissioner Bhawana Garg on notice on a petition alleging non-payment of relief.
Justice Mahesh Grover made it clear that the High Court would presume both officers had committed contempt, if the directed compensation of Rs 8 lakh was not paid within two weeks. They would be liable to face consequences, including payment of Rs 25,000 costs.
A tea vendor’s son, victim Pawan Kumar was a Class IX student. His father Rattan Chand had filed a writ petition in the High Court for compensation, alleging that UT officers had not properly maintained the park, resulting in the flooding of the low-lying area during the rainy season.
Senior advocate Satya Pal Jain had argued that the pond was a result of gross negligence on the part of UT officials as they did not maintain the low-lying area in the park properly. The student, who was coming home from school, slipped into this pond and died.
Taking up the matter, the High Court had then observed, “The necessary conclusion is that after making a pond in the park, it was the duty of the Administration to post police officials for monitoring the park to prevent such an incident”.
The court had further observed: “Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case, a sum of Rs 8 lakh is assessed as compensation, which is to be given to the petitioner by the respondents. Accordingly, the respondents are directed to pay this amount to the petitioner within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order and send its compliance report to this court”.
 
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