High Court · 2025

Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High court may be pleased to issue a writ order or direction, more pa(icularly one in the nature.of writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the respondents in not paying the compensation and not providing the employment to any one of the member of the famiiy of the deceased inspite of receipt of the representations as illegal and arbrtiary and violation of Articles 14, 19,21 and 300-A of Constitution of lndia, consequently direct the 3rd respondent to pay the compensation and provide ernployment to any one of the member of the family of the deceased forthwith lA NO: 1 OF 2018 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated rn the affidavit flled in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to direct the 3rd respondent to consider the petitioner representation Dt. 03.01.2018 and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law, pending disposal of the main Writ Petition Counsel for the Petitioner: SRl. S PRADEEP KUMAR Counsel for the Respondent NOs.1 to 5: SRI R. VINOD REDDY SC FOR TSTRANSCO Counsel for the Respondent No.6:SRl ZAKIR ALI DANISH ( SC FOR TSNPDCL ) The Courl made the following: ORDER THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE NAGESH BHEEMAPAI(A WRIT PETITION No. 31 7l of 2018 ORDER: l'hc case of thc petitroner, as per the u'rit affidavit' is that she is the riife o[ (late) Narendra Kumar' r'r'ho was employed as a Shift Operator under a Contractor named Ballu' The Contractor u'as entrusted the \^/ork of manning arld maintenance of 33/ 11 KV Sub-Station at Mulakapadu village' Dommugudem mandal' KhammamDistrict.Thepetitioner'shusbaldwhileperforming duty at the sub-station on 14'05'2011 died of electrocution' On the same day, the TS TRANSCO (erstwhile AP TRANSCO) Union approached respondent Nos'4 and 5 (i'e' ' Assistant Divisional Engineer, and Assistant Engineer, respectively)' whereupon ttle respondents have issued a letter dated 14'05 201 1' which is an undertaking given by AP TRANSCO' ADE and AE' to the effect that.rnamoul1tofRs.3,0O,0o0/-tobepaidbyAPTRANSCo, ADti. r-rnd AE; ancl lor pal ment additional compensation by- the Contrtrctor. apzrrl from providing emplo1'ment by the Department to il l)crson from the deceased tamil-r- lt is the grievance of the petltioner that the respondent authorities have not honoured the very undertaking theY have grven on 14.05.2011, and she has I 2 been approaching the authorities for compensa.tion and for employment to a member of her family, but to no avail

2. Heard Mr, S. Pradeep Kumar, learned cotttrsel for the petitioner; and Mr. Zakir Ali Danish, learned Star dinq Coutrscl for respondent- N PDCL. Pcrused the record

3. At the outset, it rs not in dispute that the petitioner's husband r,"'as emploved undcr a Contractor and rva s clc lcgated to work at the Sub-Station where he met unfortunatt'death due to electrocution on i4.05.201 1. The record reve els that the TRANSCO employees union approached the respondent Nos.4 and 5, upon which an undertaking dated 14.05.2C)11 was given by the authorities, which reads as follows: Date: 14.01i.201 1 Lakshmi NzLgaram This is to intimate that Mr. Pathiwada Nirrendra Kumar, S/o Nageshwar Rao working as a contract labour at sub-station Lakshmi Nagaram Vil)zrge, Dammaglrdem Mandal, Khammam DisL. On 14.05.2011 that Narendra Kumar while dischaxling the officia' dLrties he u,as died. As such the N;rrcndra Iiuma. rlied rvhile discharging the clrrtils tfrr' compe nsaLjon shall be pard as follolr's: 1) Rs 1,00,000/- (Rupees Onc Lzrkh onJr') lr-orn thc depiIl.1]nent. 2) ti-re st iiff of rhc departmen t. 3) IRs.1,00,000/' (Rupccs ()nc Lakh orlr I lronr Rs. I ,00,t)00/' (Rupees One Lakh orr r ) l'r-om the Govt. Wellare schemcs. The :rbove undertaking was given bv tlrc A.P. Transco, A.D.E and A.E. operatrons Bhadrac:halam, Khammam Dist. To pay the above Rs.3,00,000 /- from the deparrment and also the contractor shall pa1, the 3 additional compensation to the deceased family and also to undertake to provide an employment any one of the deceased family from the department the above statement was given with the acceptance of the Union leaders of the TRANSCO. Yours faithfullY sd/- (R. Srinivas ADE/OP/BCM) sd/- (S.K. Khader Baba AE/OP/BCM) 'l'rrrrle Uniotr Leaders 1) l). Ve nkat Raju 2l K llanrcsh, Drslrict Prcsident il) N4 lr.rantl.ri Singh J) (ihcrltt U.t').E.U." .+. Though Icarned Standrng Counsel sought to contend, based on the counter affidavit, that there is no empioyer- employee relationship between the deceased arld the department, and that the authorities have been taken hostage by the Union leaders a-nd the deceased family on the date of incident at the time of giving the Undertaking dated 14'05'201 1, there is no such plea or mention in the proceedings before the Commissioner for Employees Compensation' It is relevant to note that petitioner filed a claim petition vide E C'No' I of 2012' the Assistant Commissioner of Labour, Kothagudem, passed orclcrs dated 17.01.2013 ex porte directing the respondent authorities to pa-\' Rs.5,65,265/- as compensation amount on j 4 account of tl.re death of the deceased. The authorities liled an application LA.No.4 of 2Ol4 against the order of the Assistaut Commissioner of Labour, dated 17 .O1.2O13, pleadrng lack of knowledge of proceedings before the Assistant Commissioner; however, the Assistant Commissioner passed a con<iitional order of deposit of 50% of the compensation awarded for entertaining the application. Aggrieved, by the condition, ther respondent authorities filed an appeal before the appellate authority/Joint Commissioner of Labour, however, no orders were passed.

5. Irr the entrre proceedings, nou'here it is tl-re llea that the undertaking was obtained by coercion or taking hostage. Further it rs to be noted that though it is a generic con lttton in t he contractual 1.erms bet\\'een the Contractor atlcl tht I)cllarttllt ttt that the Contractor u'ould indemnify any liabilitr .trising or-tt rtl the performance of the Contract, in the instant casc lL is to bc noted that the TRANSCO employee union has aplrroached the respondent Nos.4 and 5, who are the authorities of the Department, whereupon the authorities have der:ided to pay compensation and a-lso provide employment to a family member of the deceased, and therefore' the decision tal.:en uide the t' \ J undertaking dated 14.05.2011 stands on a differenr: footing as it ls a consensual decision taken bv the authorlties, rvith the emplolec union leaders and considering the situation at hand at thc prcvarlir-rg time, and therelore the Lrndertaking dated l+.05.2011 has got a different ievel of sanctit-v under the circ um stat-rces. Further, the petitioner has been making rounds of the Department for impiementation of the undertaking, i e', payment of compensation and empioyment to a family member, which admittedly has not been honoured by the Department authorities, which undertaking they themselves have given' In that view of the matter, the Writ Petition is allowed, 6. directing the respondent authorities to give effect to the undertaking dated 14.05.20 1 1, b-"- paying the compensation as rr cll as providing employment to a member of the family of the de.c:cascd. uithin a period ol six rieeks from the date of receipt of a col)\ oI rhis order. In case certain amounts have alreadv been pard b-v the respective entities, as per the decrsion taker-r uide the Undertaking dated 14.05.2011, such amounts shall be given due credit while paying the remaining compensation' No costs' Miscellaneous petitions pending, if any, shall staryd ciosed' SD/.MOHD. ISMAIL PUry REGISTRAR //TRUE COPY' I i The lvlanaoino Director^/ice Chairman, Telangan SorO'ni, eirinranzil, Somajiguda, Hyderabad' To, SECTION OFFICER tate TRANSCO, VidYuth

2. The Chief Engineer (Operations), T S TRANSCO' Hanamakonda' Warangal Dtstnct.

3. The Superintending Engineer (Operations)' TS TRANSCO' Khammam' Khammam lliqtrir:t 4 The Assistant Divisional Engineer (Operations), TS TRA NSCO, Bhadrachalam, Khammam District. The Assistant Engineer (Operations), TS TRANSCO, Bhadrachalam. Khammarr D,strict. The Chairman and Managing Drrector, Telangana Northern power Distributron Corporation Limited. Vidyuth Bhavan. Hanma-konda, Warangal District One CC to SRl. S PRADEEP KUtvtAR Advocare IOPUC] one cc to sRt. zAKtR ALt DANISH ( SC FOR TSNPDC;L ) tOpUCl One CC tc SRI R. VINOD REDDY SC FOR TSTRANSCO tOpUCl Two CD Copies 5 7 6 7 8 I KKS GJP ) ) J (\. n'I HIGH COURT DATED:2310112025 -:--=-- r lth 5i j",,l /a- a- /1',:t\' O JUll 2ffi ,.(:' t/^j il?1\, ).\\t ORDER WP.No.3171 of 2018 .'1. - Dr. - -^l a !r!i o ALLOWING THE WRIT PETITION WITHOUT COSTS \1 \d6 \E/