Madras High Court
In this case Madras High Court directed to pay a sum of 10 lakh each to the victims. Madras High Court said that it is the duty of the state to ensure proper disposal of Hazardous waste. In 2018 two Children got severly injured due to the explosion near a water body in Sivakasi. The Case was Sankareswari and another V/S The district collector and others W.P.No.16862 of 2019. The case was presided by Mr. Justice GR Swaminathan.
Facts of the case
- Arun kumar and Parthiban of class X in 2018 injured from the explosion of hazardous material. They went near a water body known as karuthoorani to answer nature’s call. Like anyother children they were playing around and throwing the stones. Suddenly there were explosion and bothe of them got injured. The parents of the both injured boys claimed for compensation.
- It was said that hazardous waste was dumped in water body and the boys were not aware of the potential of the dumped material. The victims suffered serious physical and psychological injuries.
- In petition it was said that explosion happened due the dumped hazardous waste material as Sivakasi is a hub of the fire industries.
- The respondents of the case argued that the explosion was just an accident and it has nothing to do with the dumped material. They asked for the dismissal of the petition.
Judgment
The court noted that there were fire industries and on cannot assume that the private individuals had dumped the hazardous materials in the water body. They also criticized the manner f the investigation of the police. Observing the government is under constitutional obligation to ensure the general safety of the public, the court said that state is also under statuary obligations to ensure that hazardous substances are handled in such a manner that general safety of the public will not be at stake. The court gave the judgment in the favour of the petitioner and said that a fixed deposit shall be created for 5 year and this should be done within 8 weeks from the date of the order. The fixed deposit shall be on the name of the victims. After 5 year they can withdraw the fixed deposit.
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JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY NAMRATA SINGH
