KARACHI: Court seeks PSM’s reply in compensation case
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 16: The Sindh High Court has sought the Pakistan Steel Mills’ reply in two more identical suits filed by the legal heirs of the remaining victims of one of the country’s worst industrial accidents that occurred on June 6, 2001.
Nine PSM employees received fatal burns when molten steel spilled out of the ladle of its steel-making department in the wee hours of the fateful night. The legal heirs and dependants of seven of them instituted suits against the PSM claiming about Rs58.30 million under the Fatal Accidents Act as compensation for the losses suffered by them on account of their bread-winners’ death.
Their counsel, Nasir Maqsood, has now filed suits on behalf of the heirs of the remaining two victims, Ulfat Hussain and Ali Gohar Shah, claiming a total amount of Rs20.11 million. The plaintiffs in all the suits have blamed negligence on the part of the PSM in maintenance and operation of its steel- making department for the accident. In particular, they alleged the use of substandard and adulterated aluminium in molten metal for the purpose of deoxidization.
Besides investigative press reports, they have relied on the PSM officials’ statements and internal correspondence to substantiate their claim and allegations. As for an in-house technical inquiry, they said it was conducted without associating them in order to exonerate the delinquent PSM officials. The outcome of the inquiry has, however, not been communicated to them even after the lapse of one year. The compensation has been calculated on the basis of the life and income expectancy of the deceased workers and the loss of pecuniary benefits to their dependants.
The SHC has sought written statements from the PSM by Dec 10 in the last two petitions.
