Apex court tells metro contractor to compensate

A contractor of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday agreed to compensate Shashidharan, an industrialist whose brand new Honda City car got damaged owing to its negligence.

A contractor of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday agreed to compensate Shashidharan, an industrialist whose brand new Honda City car got damaged owing to its negligence.

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An undertaking to this effect was given by the company MS CEC SOMA JV's counsel who assured the Supreme Court that the car will be replaced with a new one within two months, following which a bench of justices Harjit Singh Bedi and Chandramauli KR Prasad disposed of the appeal filed by the claimant.

The bench had, while dealing with the plea earlier, said: "When bridges are falling, roads are caving in, the court cannot close its eyes to the plight of the common man. It is unfair that nobody is taking responsibility for the accident and if this trend is allowed, tomorrow you may say that the driver of the crane is responsible." It also chided DMRC for not taking effective action in the case.

Shashidharan, along with his family, was travelling in his Honda City car on May 9, 2009, when the contractor's 40 tonne crane fell on his vehicle while it was passing through Jorbagh. The car costing Rs 14 lakh was just 24 days old when the incident happened.

Shashidharan filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court seeking an independent inquiry into the various accidents connected with DMRC for fixing responsibility and also Rs 2 crore for his own loss.

The high court dismissed his petition, following which he had appealed in the apex court through counsel Wills Mathews.