"Sheer Negligence": Orissa HC Orders ₹10 Lakhs Compensation For Minor's Death Due To School Wall Collapse

The Orissa High Court has directed the State to pay Rupees Ten Lakhs as compensation to the parents of a minor boy who tragically lost his life when a toilet wall collapsed within the premises of Project Upper Primary School, Ranikiari.

The Single Bench of Dr. Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi ruled in favour of the bereaved parents, underscoring the State's negligence in maintaining school infrastructure and ensuring the safety of students.

Highlighting that the safety of the children cannot be taken so lightly by the School authority, the Court said, "It is evident that the collapse of the toilet building wall on the fateful day was due to sheer negligence on the part of the Opposite Parties/ State, who are duty bound to maintain the Project Upper Primary School, Ranikiari building and its surrounding in a proper manner."

The incident occurred while Kunal Pradhan, a Class II student, was playing with his friend on the school grounds. Suddenly, a dilapidated wall gave way, trapping Kunal under its debris. Despite being rushed to a nearby hospital, he succumbed to his injuries, prompting his parents to seek compensation through legal recourse.

Initially denied compensation under existing provisions, the parents approached the High Court, arguing that the State's response was inadequate given the circumstances. The State had sanctioned Rs. 2 lakhs as ex-gratia relief, but the court deemed this insufficient in light of the tragic loss suffered by the family.

While acknowledging the promptness of the ex-gratia grant, emphasized that no amount of compensation could fully alleviate the parents' grief. Citing compensatory jurisprudence, the court highlighted the purpose of compensation as redress for wrongful acts or negligence resulting in harm, aiming to mitigate the victims' losses to some extent.

"In this case, though the State functionaries have taken the prompt steps for payment of ex-gratia grant in favour of the mother of the deceased child, but they did not take any precautionary step to avoid such untoward incident. Therefore, a clear case for grant of a decent compensation is made out instead of ex-gratia grant. The Compensatory Jurisprudence aims at providing compensation to victims of harmtypically due to wrongly acts such as negligence, breach of contract or criminal offences seeking restoration of the original position before the harm occurred by awarding monetary damages or other forms of restitution. Though in the present case the original position cannot be restored," the Court remarked. 

The Court ordered, "...this Court is inclined to entertain the prayer of the Petitioners. Accordingly, the State authority is directed to pay compensation of Rs.8,00,000/- (Rupees Eight Lakhs) in addition to the ex-gratia amount of Rs.2,00,000/- (Rupees Two Lakhs) already declared by the District Education Officer."

In order to ensure the safety of the students in Primary Schools, Upper Primary Schools and High Schools, the Court further ordered:

1. A District Education Infrastructure Safety Audit Committee has to be formed in each district, headed by the District Magistrate and Collector, along with the members like District Education Officer and Block Education Officer (s), Executive Engineer of Works Department and/or R.D. and P.W.D. Departments, Executive Officer of Municipality and/ or NAC, Block Development Officer(s) and some of the selected members/ Headmasters of some High Schools and Head Pandits of some of the Primary Schools and Upper Primary Schools.

2. Such Committee shall ensure the safety audit of each and every Schools of the district and issue Safety Certificate to the School Authority every year in the month of June.

3. The District Education Infrastructure Safety Audit Committee shall meet at least twice a year. The Committee will form a Subcomittee of Engineers pertaining to the Departments of R.D. and P.W.D. and ensure safety audit of the school infrastructure, which shall recommend for issuance of Safety Certificate to the School Authority. There shall be a grievance redressal mechanism under the aegis of the District Education Infrastructure Safety Audit Committee at every block level.

4. It is the duty of the School Headmaster of every School to report to the concerned B.D.O. regarding unsafe wall and scrub up any school building and the B.D.O. shall immediately take up the issue before the District Education Infrastructure Safety Audit Committee so that the issue can be resolved at the earliest possible. The District Magistrate and Collector shall be the monitoring authority for the safety of the children to prevent such kind of mishap in School Campuses. 

5. The School Headmaster and the Block Education Officer will be held responsible for any kind of mishap due to falling of wall or roof. 

6. The School and Mass Education Department shall have a Disaster Management Team to mitigate any kind of disaster in the form of falling of wall, fire or any other kind of calamity faced by the Schools.

The Court granted the government flexibility to enhance and implement the directives effectively, urging the Secretary of the Department of School and Mass Education to issue comprehensive notifications to all districts within three months. "Accordingly, this Writ Petition is disposed of being allowed," the Court said. 

Cause Title: Sania Pradhan @ Sanyasi Pradhan & Anr. v. State of Odisha & Ors.

Appearance:-

Petitioner: Advocate Biswajit Moharana

Opposite Party: Advocate Sonak Mishra (ASC) 

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