CHENNAI: Taking serious note of deaths due to drowning in abandoned stone quarries, the Madras high court ordered compensation of ₹25 lakh each to families of two victims and directed the government to fence such quarries.
The government and the lease-holder of the quarry must pay the compensation, the court said.
“After expiry of the period of lease, the lease-holders must fence the site and provide other safety parameters so that no such untoward incident will occur in future,” Justice R Mahadevan said.
Allowing two separate pleas moved by parents of R Gideon, 15, and S Moses, 17, who drowned in one such abandoned quarry in Vellore, the court said, “Human lives are precious, and loss of a life is not capable of evaluation in terms of money... In cases of death due to the negligence of others, the tortfeasor (a person who caused harm or loss) has to be made liable to pay compensation to the family of the victim.”
The court further observed that the death of the children has a definite nexus with the negligence attributable on the part of the state and the private licence holder of the quarry. “Therefore, this court comes to a conclusion that both are statutorily and vicariously liable to compensate the petitioners for the death of their sons,” the court concluded.
