IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD TUESDAY, THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SMT. JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI and THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT APPEAL NO : 154 of 2002 (Writ Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the Order dated 27/06/2001 in WP NO : 2326 OF 1993 on the file of the High Court.) Between: 1 The Dist Collector The Dist Collector Khammam. 2 The Sub-Jail Superintendent, Khammam. 3 The Superintendent of Police (Reserve) Khammam. 4 The Revenue Divl. Officer Khammam. ..... APPELLANTS AND 1 Noorunnisa Begum W/o. Late Shaik Chand R/o. Khammam. 2 Shaik Saida W/o. Late Karnal R/o Khammam. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Appellants:GP FOR HOME Counsel for the Respondents : SMT.N.SHOBA The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SMT. JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI and THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT APPEAL NO :154 of 2002 ORAL JUDGMENT: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice Ramesh Ranganathan) The District Collector, Khammam is before us aggrieved by the order of the learned single Judge in Writ Petition No. 2326 of 1993. The learned single Judge had issued a Mandamus directing the appellants-respondents to grant compensation of Rs. 1,50,000/- to the respondents-writ petitioners and had directed the appellants herein to open a ﬁxed deposit account in any nationalized bank in the name of the 1st respondent, wife of the deceased-late Shaik Chand for a period of ﬁve years and had observed that the ﬁrst respondent was entitled to withdraw interest accrued thereon every three years. The Deputy Manager, Housing Corporation was also directed to consider the recommendation of the Superintendent of Police, Khammam, sent vide letter dated 9.7.1992 which was considered by the District Collector, to provide a house under his quota. The learned Judge further observed that if the house was not provided under the quota of the District Collector, the same may be considered and appropriate orders may be passed within six weeks from the date of receipt of the said order. The compensation amount was directed to be paid as the learned single Judge was satisﬁed that late Shaik Chand had suﬀered chest pain from 10.30 p.m. on 2.12.1991 till 3.00 a.m. on 3.12.1991, as had been stated by the inmates of the prison and Armed Reserve Police; that it was evident from the conclusions reached by the Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate that there were no medical facilities provided at the jail by the Government and that there was inordinate delay in providing medical facilities to late Shaik Chand for about four and half hours. The learned Judge further observed that, for their failure to provide medical facility in the Sub-Jail and the inaction on the part of the Superintendent of Sub-Jail, the life of late Shaik Chand was curtailed which was otherwise guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The learned Judge further observed that had late Shaik Chand been provided with medical facilities in time, he would have survived and after completion of criminal proceedings, would have been in a position to maintain his family consisting of his wife, parents and seven children. It is upon taking into consideration these facts that the relief of compensation was granted by the learned single Judge. We are in complete agreement with the ﬁnding recorded by the learned single Judge and the conclusions arrived at by him in granting compensation of Rs. 1,50,000/- in addition to directing the appellants to consider the case of the respondents herein for allotment of a house site under the District Collector’s quota. We see no reason to take a different view therefrom. Smt. N. Shobha, learned counsel for the respondents- petitioners, would bring to our notice that despite the fact that the Division Bench, while admitting the writ appeal had not granted stay, no compensation had been paid to the respondents- petitioners till date. The inaction on the part of the appellants, in failing to comply with the order of this Court and in not paying compensation as directed for the past more than seven years, is indeed a matter of regret. While dismissing the writ appeal and conﬁrming the order of the learned single Judge, we direct the appellants herein to pay the respondents-writ petitioners interest at 12% per annum, on the compensation amount, which was directed to be paid at Rs. 1,50,000/-, from the date of the order of the learned single Judge. The compensation amount, along with interest thereupon, shall be deposited with the A.P. State Legal Services Authority, Hyderabad, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and the State Legal Services Authority, on receipt of the said amount, shall handover the same to the respondents-petitioners on their being identiﬁed by their counsel. The writ appeal, subject to the above observations, is dismissed. However, in the circumstances without costs. ___________________ T. MEENA KUMARI,J DATE: 22nd July, 2008 __________________________ RAMESH RANGANATHAN,J pnb