Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh on Friday dismissed an appeal by the J&K Union Territory government against a single bench order that directed compensation of Rs 10 lakhs be paid to a Forest Department employee, whose right arm had to be amputated following an injury he suffered while on duty some twenty-five years ago.
Justices Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Puneet Gupta opined “the view taken by the Writ Court, (single judge bench of the High Court) in the context of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees life and personal liberty of a citizen, is unexceptionable”.
The bench said “the employee, Jehangir Ahmad Khan, was serving as Helper in the Forest Department and, therefore, was entitled to salary. Nevertheless, the respondent, who was made to live the rest of his life without right arm, has suffered immense loss in terms of amenities of life. The respondent would not be in a position to supplement his small amount of pension by doing any menial job after his retirement without the right arm.”
It also noted “the respondent would face the stigma of being a person without the right arm for the rest of his life. It also cannot be denied that because of the injury, which ultimately resulted in amputation of his right arm, the respondent suffered huge mental pain and agony. In such circumstances, the compensation of Rs 10.00 lakhs, in addition to Rs 75,000 as ex-gratia, cannot, by any stretch of reasoning, be said to be exorbitant or irrational.”
The division bench found no merit in the appeal filed by the UT administration.
It ordered “the amount of Rs 5.00 lakhs, deposited by the appellants before this court and be released in favour of the respondent herein, along with interest accrued thereupon”.
The Single Judge bench had directed the appellant – Union Territory – to pay an amount of Rs 10.00 lakhs as compensation to the victim.
In 2000, Jehangir was serving as ‘Helper’ in the Forest department of the Government of Jammu & Kashmir, when he became a victim of cross-firing between the security forces and the militants.
He was seriously injured in firing, which ultimately resulted in the amputation of his right arm. He had to incur huge amount of money on his treatment and suffered excruciating pain because of the said injury.
He approached the administration for grant of compensation but it only released a meagre amount of Rs. 75,000 as ex-gratia in his favour, an amount too meagre to meet the cost of his treatment.
This constrained him to approach the court. He claimed in his petition a sum of Rs 15 lakhs by way of compensation for 85 percent permanent disability suffered by him, including some compensation for pain and agony which he was made to suffer because of amputation of his right arm.
The UT administration contested the petition and took the stand that the ex gratia amount of Rs 75,000 has already been sanctioned in favour of the petitioner and also that he has not lost his source of income.
It was further argued that the petitioner, Jehangir, would receive pension after he demits office on superannuation.
The judgment was also challenged by the administration, inter alia, on the ground “the Writ Court has not appreciated the fact that the respondent was a government employee and, therefore, the injury suffered by him did not adversely affect his source of livelihood, i.e., salary. It is argued that the Writ Court has also not indicated the yardstick which it has applied to work out the compensation of Rs 10.00 lakhs in favour of the employee”.
The division bench found the arguments of the UT administration against the basic premise of justice and Constitution of the country and upheld the Single Bench order.
