The court’s order came when it rejected the AAI’s appeal against a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) decision on the compensation to be paid.
Apex court verdict may set a new trend in tort litigation
NEW DELHI: Indian tort litigation may get a boost from the Supreme Court’s order of Thursday endorsing payment of compensation of over Rs19.4 lakh (plus interest at 10% per annum) to the parents of a girl who died after she was sucked in by a neglected escalator run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Jyotsna, 7, was killed nine years ago when she was trapped between the plates of an elevator at New Delhi airport, and the parents’ cries for help went unanswered.
The court’s order came when it rejected the AAI’s appeal against a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) decision on the compensation to be paid.
The order has been hailed by lawyers as the “right step in the right direction”.
The court’s concern for the right to safety and award of exemplary damages on its denial was, however, established much earlier when it directed the railway ministry to pay Rs10 lakh as compensation to a Bangladeshi woman who had been raped by its employees in a retiring room at Howrah station.
Currently, it is hearing a whopping Rs143 crore compensation claim filed by a non-resident Indian doctor and Aids researcher Kunal Sah whose wife died due to allegedly wrong treatment during a visit to Kolkata in May 1998. Sah’s claim is said to be the highest tort case in the country till date.
Sah has challenged NCDRC’s decision to reject his compensation plea for Rs77.76 crore. In the Supreme Court, the claim has been bumped up to Rs143 crore for various reasons, including claims involving mental stress.
Even as some trend-setting directions are expected from Sah’s appeal, tort expert Sanjay Parikh views the entire scenario in a different way.
”I hope there would be some value for life in India,” he says, adding, “It’s expected of the state and its instrumentalities to provide safety and protect citizens’ lives.”
”Only ordering of exemplary damages to victims of all types of negligence whether in the air, on road or at sea can minimise the trauma of millions of people who are left in the lurch after every man-created tragedy.”
b_rakesh@dnaindia.net
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