MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the Tangedco officials to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to a person whose milch cow died due to electrocution. Justice GR Swaminathan was hearing a petition filed by T Muthu Irulappan of Kanniyakumari.
In his petition, Irulappan said that he had taken his four milch cows for grazing on October 27, 2023 through the unfenced land of one Thangaiya, which contained a 100KVA power transformer, at Veeranarayanamangalam in Thovalai. One of the cows stepped into a puddle of water that had stagnated beneath the transformer, and died instantaneously, he said.
Hearing the rival arguments, the court said it was necessary to probe into the basis of tortious liability in such cases. "Such an exercise has become imperative, as around 9,000 people and 2,495 animals (both domestic and wild) have died of electrocution since 2006 in Tamil Nadu. It is the duty of the state, state instrumentalities and local bodies to ensure that the environment is kept safe and does not pose threat to the lives and limbs of people," the judges said.
The court further said even though animals do not have rights, state and local bodies have a duty towards them and this duty can be enforced by courts. The state and local bodies, including corporations, municipalities and panchayats, are obliged to ensure a safe environment. Tangedco is obliged to put in place the safety measures mentioned above so that unnatural deaths do not take place either due to leakage of electricity or by snapping of live wires, the court noted.
"In the case on hand, Tangedco had failed in its duty to ensure a safe environment by preventing leakage of electricity. It is therefore liable to compensate the petitioner. If there are factual disputes, then, certainly the court would have relegated the petitioner to go before the civil court. In this case there is no factual dispute at all. The Tangedco is squarely responsible for the occurrence," observed the court.
Accordingly, the court directed the respondents — Chairman cum managing director of Tangedco, Chief Engineer/Distribution of Tirunelveli region, Superintending Engineer, Executive Engineer, Assistant Executive Engineer and Junior Engineer, to pay a sum of Rs 50,000 as compensation.