A civil court has ordered the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) to pay a total of Rs30 million in damages to the family of a man and woman, who died due to an explosion caused by gas leakage in Orangi Town.
Muhammad Riazuddin and his wife Hassan Ara were killed while their five children — Aliza, Ali Raza, Areeba, Anees, and Owais — were injured in a blast triggered by gas leakage in Orangi Town’s Millat Colony within the jurisdiction of the Iqbal Market police station on October 31, 2022.
Aliza, through her lawyer Usman Farooq, had filed two suits demanding over Rs86 million in damages under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855, from the gas utility on account of her parents’ deaths.
After recording evidence and arguments from both sides, Senior Civil Judge (West) Salman Amjad Siddiue ruled that the plaintiff was entitled to damages covering the punitive and monetary liability amounting to Rs15 million on account of the untimely demise of each parent.
“Not only the failure of the SSGC to execute the necessary safeguards to avert the incident of such nature has resulted in the loss of precious life but the repercussions of the same accident will be long felt by the bereaved family throughout their life,” he observed.
“The deceased was obviously under the middle age and had a potentially long life ahead. Simply, to redress the same grievance, it is conclusively clear that the incident had occurred due to combustible substance which had ignited through the pervasive gas leakage rampant under the house which was evidently negligence act of the defendant which had failed to take timely measure for neutralizing the gas leakage which again was the sole responsibility of the SSGC.”
Deciding the quantum of damages, the judge said that first of all, the magnitude of the incident had clearly wrecked the havoc to the grieving family and aftershocks of the same incident after the brutal mishap resulting in the untimely death of the deceased will be felt by the bereaved family for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, the nightmare of the incident which had also caused injuries to the other surviving family members with the other incidental damage in the house will horrendously resonate with entire family throughout their lives, he added.
“It is imperative to award the just the damages in view of the perpetual vision with regard to parallel lifespan the deceased must have consumed if not for the brutal accident. Therefore, the plaintiff is hereby declared entitled to the all-inclusive punitive and monetary damages on account of the untimely death of deceased, which shall satisfy all the legal heirs who are worthy of the consolidated damages amongst them. Issue is decided accordingly.”
Earlier, the plaintiff stated that she along with her siblings was asleep when her mother woke up to warm dinner for her father, who had returned from work. All of a sudden, a loud blast occurred due to the leakage of gas from the pipeline in the locality, she added.
She said the resultant fire engulfed her house, causing severe burns to her family members, adding that her father and mother succumbed to burn wounds at a hospital the following day. The plaintiff claimed that the incident occurred due to gross negligence on the part of the defendant to repair and maintain gas pipelines. The defendant was under statutory obligation by virtue of the relevant laws and owed duty to the public at large, including the victims, to ensure proper gas supply and maintenance of its infrastructure but failed to discharge its statutory duty and fell short of putting in place safety standards required to avert such incidents, she maintained.
In addition to that, the plaintiff said the SSGC also committed criminal negligence by not immediately taking notice of the damaged gas pipeline as people of the locality had been complaining about gas leak before the incident.
In its statement, the defendant raised objections regarding the maintainability of the suits, stating that they were not maintainable under the law. It denied all allegations of negligence and submitted that no gas leakage occurred from its pipeline at the time or place of the alleged incident.
The SSGC said that the plaintiff was not a consumer of the defendant and that no gas connection was available at the house, therefore, the question of leakage does not arise. The defendant also denied to have received any prior complaint regarding gas leakage and termed the alleged complaints as fabricated and an afterthought.
