KARACHI: A court has directed the concerned Town Municipal Corporation (TMC) to pay Rs15 million as compensation to the legal heirs of a man who died after falling into an uncovered nullah in Orangi during rainfall in 2020.

The direction was issued after the plaintiff had filed a lawsuit through Advocate Usman Farooq before Senior Civil Judge (West) Salman Amjad Siddique, seeking compensation from the defendants, District Municipal Corporation (DMC), Sindh government and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) under the Fatal Accident Act, as his son — Muhammad Arif Qureshi — died over their alleged negligence.

After hearing all the sides and determining the actual punitive liability, the court directed the concerned TMC to pay Rs15m as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased.

On the question of liability — whether it rests with DMC West or KMC — the court observed that over time, municipal responsibilities have evolved, with KMC primarily responsible for main thoroughfares, while area-wise internal drainage falls within the domain of the TMC, which corresponds to the erstwhile DMC structure relevant at the time of the incident.

The court further noted that it is an established fact on record that the deceased’s death occurred after falling into an open sewerage drain, which remained uncovered and unattended, reflecting clear negligence on the part of the concerned municipal authorities.

It added that TMC is responsible as the major contributor for the untimely death and deserves to be dealt with the punitive and monetary liability to exemplify the deterring precedent to avert future incidents.

According to Advocate Farooq, while the 32-year-old deceased was returning home on his motorcycle, he fell into the uncovered drainage in Orangi Town in July 2020, due to the negligence and failure of the defendants.

However, the court noted that neither the counsel from DMC nor the KMC have pursued the final arguments, adding that the KMC from the very beginning has been distancing the institution from any liability while always maintaining that KMC only undertakes the responsibility for the governance on the main road of the intra-city infrastructure and the maintenance of the pedestrian drainages falling under the regular streets align with the duties of the TMC.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2026