S. S. ALI, Member

                                The brief fact of the case is that on the evening of 7/6/14 there was rain in the village Gholda and on the said night the parents of the complainants went to the field after the said rain. During the said rain the electric line was snapped on the road near the house of the persons who were going out in the field and they had been electrocuted and died on the spot. According to the complainants the cause of death was due to fault with regard to the non- maintenance of the electric line of the op, hence this case.

                                The opposite party appeared in this case and filed WV and WNA praying for rejection of the case. In paragraph 11 of the WNA the opposite party submitted that, one verbal information has been received from the villagers of the locality about the death of one Durgapada Bangal and Parui Bangal, as and when the information received on 11.6.14, the op along with SAE Rabindranth Jana and Linesman Sk Kobad have made joint inspection. At the time of inspection the op did not find any snapped conductor from the PCC pole and service connection from the said line which was enjoyed by the consumers. The op also state that as per Notification no GSRI(E) on 22^nd December 2004 ‘’ all accident should be reported within 24 hours and file Form A within 48 hours.’’ In the instant case no such information was given within the stipulated time to the op in order to ascertain the cause of incident the op found that no docket about the said accident was made and from the docket summary report it was found  that no such incident happened.

                                We have gone through the documents filed and heard the Ld Advocates at length. It is admitted by the opposite party that the cause of death of Durgapada Bangal and Parui Bangal, was due to electrocution but the electrocution was due to the snapped wire  in front of the house of the deceased or not, has been denied by the op. The Post-Mortem report filed by the complainants shows that cause of death was electrocution. And as per para 8 of the investigation report u/s 174 CrPC of PM report no.  430 & 431 dt 8.6.14 i.e inquest form, it is found that cause of death for electrocution was due to the snapping of live wire in front of the house of the deceased as per statement of the witnesses. The op has not put forward any witness to rebut the allegation nor they challenged the said report. Moreover, even if, for the sake of argument it is assumed that the electric line had not snapped and it was found okay on inspection then why the Regional Manager Purba Medinipur region served notice upon the legal heirs of Durgpada Bangal and Parui Bangal for hearing on 15.09.14 at 10 am at Chandipur customer care center WBSEDCL, that remains unclear. The Ld Lawyer on behalf of the op tried to misinterprets the contents of section 3 of The intimation of accident vide Notification no. GSR 1(E) dated 22^nd December 2004. The Notification clearly mentions that -any authorized person of the generating company or licensee, not below the rank of a Junior Engineer or equivalent shall send to the inspector a telegraphic report within 24 hours of the knowledge of the occurrence -in writing in Form A within 48 hours of the knowledge of the occurrence.  So it is the duty of the op to inform the incident and not that of the complainants as stated by the op.

                                In this context we are of the opinion that the opposite party failed to discharge their duty in maintaining the electrical lines in the village areas and they cannot shrug off their responsibility. As such we are of the opinion that the op is negligent and there is deficiency in providing service to its consumers.

                                Hence it is ordered:-

                The instant complaint being no. CC 67 of 2014 is allowed on contest against the op. The opposite party is directed to pay compensation for death of Durgpada Bangal and Parui Bangal to their heirs, the complainant nos 1 & 2, a sum of Rs 4,00,000/- and litigation cost of Rs 2000/- within 30 days from passing of this order, in default, the op shall pay fine @ Rs 200/- per day till realization in toto. The complainants shall have the liberty to execute the decree/final order as per law.