TNEB told to pay up for womans death

MADURAI: Holding the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) responsible for the death of a 70-year-old woman, a single judge at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the TNEB to pay a compensation of Rs 1,22,000 to the son of the deceased.A Veerayeeammal of Kandamanayakanur in Dindigul, was electrocuted on October 5, 2010 after she accidentally stepped on a live wire in a neighbour’s coconut grove. According to her son A Subramani, the junior engineer of Vada Madurai division and the wireman attached to the division were informed on September 20, 2010 itself that the low tension power line was lying snapped at the coconut grove.Veerayeeammal, who was active at 70, died only because of the negligence of the TNEB, Subramani told the court. TNEB officials contended that they were not liable to pay the compensation and that the owner of the coconut grove was liable for the accident. “The death in the subject case was caused due to the negligence on the part of the owner of the farm. The wire was snapped because of the coconut tree branches. Therefore, the board is not liable to pay compensation,” it had stated.However, Justice K K Sasidharan noted that the board was bound to maintain the live wire. The judge also pointed out that there was nothing on record to show that TNEB officials had conducted any inspection before the incident.The judge also took into consideration the age and the family role of the victim while fixing the compensation. “The contribution of mother to the family is invaluable. Aged people would guide the family members to lead a peaceful social life and their presence in a house would be a boon. They are valuable assets to the family,” the judge added.Assessing the compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act, he directed Tamil Nadu Electricity Board to pay Rs 1,22,000 to the petitioner with six per cent interest rate calculated from November 26, 2010, within a period of two months.