KARACHI, Sept 19: The Sindh High Court has put the steel mills on notice for Sept 20 in seven identical suits, claiming total compensation to the tune of Rs58 million under the Fatal Accident’s Act.

Nasir Maqsood, advocate, has filed suits on behalf of Khalid Ahmed, Mir Mohammad Chandio, Mukhtiar Begum, Sughra, Ziati Begum, Amir Gul Shah and Shamim Jan.

The plaintiff is the father of the deceased, Kamran Ahmad, who died on June 6, 2001 at Baqai Hospital by receiving the fatal burn injuries in the steel-making department of Pakistan Steel where he was trapped, with other co-workers in the molten steel, overflowed from the ladle owing to alleged negligence of the defendant.

The plaintiff has filed this suit under the provisions of the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855, for the benefit and interest of himself and his legal heirs.

An in-house technical inquiry was ordered by the competent authority to investigate the causes of the accident and fix responsibility.

The plaintiff maintains that in none of the aforesaid enquiry, the legal heirs or representatives of the deceased in question were ever called to associate in inquiries in any manner. Besides, the defendant also did not take any departmental action against any of the elements responsible for the said incident resulting into loss of nine valuable lives.

It is alleged that the defendant, with the active connivance of the labour as well as industries department, have siphoned the real causes of the said incident and are guilty of directing the inquiries to suit their wishes to conceal their negligence to avoid the liability.

It is the case, the defendant was grossly negligent in using the substandard and adulterated aluminium containing lead, zinc, copper and other pollutants in the name of aluminium ingots in the steel-making department.

In fact, the aluminium used in the process of melting steel was not really aluminium required as per standardised specification of the defendant which led to serious inconsistencies .