85% disabled after tree fall: Karnataka High Court orders Rs 2.77 crore for Bengaluru man

Advocate Girish Bandi, appearing for the petitioner, welcomed the order and said the amount would help Chandan in his medical expenses as he is unable to work.”

The accident happened while he was passing by a Gulmohar tree standing on the premises of Good Shepherd Convent School, the branches of which were protruding onto Convent Road. The school had made a representation to the civic body to cut the branches 25 days ago, which was not acted upon.

Chandan suffered serious injuries to his neck and backbone, and passersby shifted him to a nearby hospital, from where he was shifted to the Sparsh Hospital, where he underwent treatment for months, incurring an expense of Rs 22 lakh. Soon after the incident, the corporation paid Chandan an ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh, while the school management paid him Rs 3 lakh.

Advocate Bandi said, “The incident has changed Chandan’s life; he was the sole breadwinner of my family as his wife is also disabled and has a daughter. Till now, he has spent around Rs 50 lakh on medical expenses and is going to have to spend more.”

Chandan, in his plea, claimed that BBMP officials who visited him at the hospital had orally assured that full and final hospital expenses would be paid and promised to provide a job to his wife. However, all the assurances have not been met, prompting him to move the High Court. He sought a direction to the Corporation to pay him compensation of Rs 5 crore, towards his present and future medical and family expenses.

During the hearing, Good Shepherd School said they would provide free education to Chandan’s nine-year-old daughter.

The court said that the school shall continue to provide free education to the petitioner’s daughter until she completes Class 12.

According to the tree census carried out by the BBMP, around 7,02,000 trees have been enumerated in Bengaluru under the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976.

Vijay Nishanth, president of Project Vruksha Foundation, environmental conservationist and urban tree mapping expert, said the priority of the authority should be about how it takes care of the citizens who suffer in mishaps of dead wood falling on someone.

“That courtesy has to be brought into the domain. The amount awarded by the GBA could be decided based on factors such as family situation, dependents, and other considerations of the victim, rather than simply releasing a fixed amount by the corporation. In these cases, which can happen to anybody, it is not always the money that is of value, but it is the support after the incident to the victim by authorities that should be the approach,” he said.

Previous tree fall incidents

Chandan is not a standalone victim of tree fall accidents. On June 29 this year, a tree collapsed on two friends in BM Kaval Park, Indiranagar, leaving them seriously injured.

Five days before that, on June 24, a 53-year-old biker was critically injured when a dry tree branch fell on him near Ram Mandir Road, Rajajinagar.

On March 11, 2020, nine-year-old girl Rachel Prisha was hit on the head by a falling tree branch while on her way to school on TC Palya Main Road. After spending 701 days in a coma, a period punctuated by repeated episodes of sepsis and epileptic seizures, the girl died in hospital.

On June 23, 2007, an autorickshaw passenger, while travelling from Queens Road to Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, requested the driver to stop the vehicle by the roadside due to heavy rain. When the vehicle was parked beneath an old tree, a branch suddenly detached and fell on the vehicle, causing serious injuries to Kumar.