Boy’s death at school: High Court questions AMC on compensation

The case relates to alleged negligence on the part of AMC authorities in running the school in a dilapidated building. On February 5,1997,Ferozkhan Majidkhan had sustained serious injuries after the staircase of the primary school collapsed on him when he was coming out of his classroom after school hours. The boy succumbed to the injuries the next day.

Interestingly,the principal had brought the issue of dilapidated condition of the staircase and the threat it was posing to the safety of the students to the notice of AMC authorities a number of times with a demand to get it repaired immediately. But his demands remained unheeded.

Following a petition in the HC,mother of the deceased was ordered to be paid Rs 25,000 as interim compensation by the AMC. But 14 years after that,the matter remained undecided and the woman did not get further compensation amount during the pendency of the petition.

Recently,the petition came before Chief Justice Mukhopadhaya. The court ordered the municipal commissioner to file an affidavit on whether the civic body would pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh apart from Rs 25,000 already deposited.

The court has also directed the municipal commissioner to state in the affidavit as to what compensation amount Indian Railways pays if any person dies during rail accident.