HC asks civic bodies, power utilities to pay Rs 50L

  • | Thursday | 22nd February, 2018

During last hearing, intervener Mohnish Jabalpure through counsel Shashibhushan Wahane submitted another document containing over 150 such sites under the HT wires. Earlier, the court appointed panel members demanded a whopping expenditure of over Rs2.5 crore to inspect all sites under HT wires and submitting a report. The judges however made it clear that this deposit would be without his rights and contentions. If the committee’s work expands, it may be required to hold more sittings and, therefore may also need more revenue. The judges then asked the members to verify the location and possession of all 2,000 structures.“We’ve taken note of 350 structures and 141 sites.

Nagpur: In a major jolt to the civic bodies, power utilities and Armors Township Builder Anand Khobragade, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday, directed them to deposit Rs50 lakh collectively for expenditure towards the special panel constituted to suggest solutions to prevent fatal accident due to high-tension (HT) lines.A division bench comprising justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Swapna Joshi further asked Khobragade to deposit Rs10 lakh towards compensation to the 11-year-old twins — Priyansh and Piyush Dhar — who died in June last year, after coming in contact with a HT wire. The judges however made it clear that this deposit would be without his rights and contentions. “If such deposit is made, we grant him leave to move for regularization/release of attachment of his properties,” they said.The NMC, NIT, MSEDCL, apart from Spanco and Khobragade were told to deposit Rs10 lakh each with the HC’s registry, as an interim measure, within two weeks, along with the compensation amount.The directives came while hearing a suo motu PIL based on TOI reports on deaths of Dhar twins along with five-year old Umesh Pande due to electrocution from HT wires, where Shreerang Bhandarkar was appointed as amicus curiae.Earlier, Anand Parchure informed that over 2,000 residents living under or near HT wires were issued notices. The HC then directed the panel to fix the date and place of its next sitting and communicate it to all noticees and its registry. “All 2,000 noticees then can be directed to appear accordingly,” the judges said.Earlier, Bhandarkar pointed out that the panel members had graciously responded to HC’s appeal and brought down the need from Rs2.50 crores to Rs1.06 crores. The judges then asked the members to verify the location and possession of all 2,000 structures.“We’ve taken note of 350 structures and 141 sites. If the committee’s work expands, it may be required to hold more sittings and, therefore may also need more revenue. The amount to be contributed by structures which have come up illegally, needs to be decided at the earliest. This exercise can be conveniently done by members after looking into individual structure, its building plan, property tax and electricity bill,” they stated.The 2,000 households included over 1,500 identified by the NIT, 573 named by the specially constituted panel and another 141 suggested by the amicus curiae. During last hearing, intervener Mohnish Jabalpure through counsel Shashibhushan Wahane submitted another document containing over 150 such sites under the HT wires. Earlier, the court appointed panel members demanded a whopping expenditure of over Rs2.5 crore to inspect all sites under HT wires and submitting a report.

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