The Karnataka High Court on Monday directed the electricity authorities to shift all high-tension electricity lines passing through school premises in the State.
The court passed the order after perusing the report of the Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner which said that a 11 kV electricity line was “slightly shifted” towards the government school premises in Karikere village on August 15, 2021, where 16-year-old Chandan died of electrocution when the flagpole he was trying to erect touched the electricity line.
Interim order
A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum passed the interim order while hearing a PIL petition initiated suo motu by the court in 2019 following the electrocution of five boys at Devaraj Urs Backward Classes Pre-metric Boys Hostel at Bannikatti in Koppal district in August 2019, when a flagpole came in contact with live wires.
The Bench said it appeared that “the Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner, in connivance with the school authorities, had tried to give a different colour to the incident” of electrocution after perusing the report, in which the DC had claimed in the report that the electrocution occurred when some boys “on their own” tried to erect the flagpole lying on the school premises.
While declining to accept the claim of the DC that the boys tried to hoist flag “on their own” in the school premises, the Bench wondered how a high tension line could be “slightly shifted” towards the school. The Bench directed the electricity authorities in Tumakuru district to shift the lines from the school premises within 30 days.
The Bench ordered for impleading the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation and all electricity supply companies (ESCOMs) in the State to the proceedings of the petition as the court was informed that ESCOMs were responsible for shifting electricity lines below 66KB and it was KPTCL’s task if the lines were 66 kV and above.
‘Pay ₹10 lakh’
Terming as “meagre” the payment of only ₹1 lakh compensation to the parents of Chandan, the Bench said the government will have to pay ₹10 lakh compensation as was paid in the Bagalkot incident.
