KARACHI, July 15: Besides facing hours-long power breakdowns every summer, consumers have also been suffering heavy financial losses due to fluctuation in power, while the persisting load-shedding causes losses in millions of rupees daily to the industrial sector.

A number of people have also lost their lives due to electrocution, particularly in the monsoon, and a number of such cases or suits for damages are pending in the Sindh High Court against the Karachi Electric Supply Company, in which the legal heirs of those people who were electrocuted or those who suffered financial losses have demanded compensation from the KESC for its negligence under the provisions of the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855.

Senior lawyer and member of the Sindh Bar Council Salahuddin Khan Gandapur told Dawn that the law of compensation against negligence was implemented in the United Kingdom in the 18th century.

“This law was introduced in the subcontinent during Lord Macaulay’s regime. But it could not be implemented since the state did not want to expose the wrongdoings of its institutions. The British government had again modified this law after 1930. Later, the negligence on the part of the state was also included in this law,” he added.

He further stated that the implementation of the law began after the creation of Pakistan and the first case of negligence was filed in the Peshawar High Court in 1990, against the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), in which the legal heirs of those people who were electrocuted were compensated, adding that the Sindh High Court had also order the KESC to compensate the family of four children who died due to electrocution in Orangi Town in the 90s. At present, there are over 100 suits pending in the SHC against the negligence of the KESC.

He stated that in such cases or suits, the plaint shall give a full particular of the person or persons for whom, or on whose behalf, such action or suit shall be brought, and of the nature of the claim in respect of which damages shall be sought to be recovered.

The act provides compensation to families for loss occasioned by the death of a person caused by actionable wrong.

According to the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855, every such action or suit shall be for the benefit of the wife, husband, parent and child – if any – of the person whose death shall have been so caused, and shall be brought by and in the name of the executor, administrator, or representative of the person deceased, and in every such action the court may give such damages as it may think proportioned to the loss resulting from such death to the parties respectively, for whom and for whose benefit such action shall be brought; and the amount so recovered, after deducting all costs and expenses, including the costs not recovered from the defendant, shall be divided amongst the before-mentioned parties, or any of them, in such shares as the court by its judgment or decree shall direct.

KESC spokesman Sultan Hasan told Dawn that the utility had set up a law department, which was dealing with the damages suits filed against it in the Sindh High Court.