(1.) THIS writ petition has been filed for the issuance of a writ of mandamus, to direct the respondents to pay the petitioners a sum of Rs. 3,00,000/- or any other sum that may be fixed and determined by this Court by way of Compensation to the petitioners consequent upon the death of Mrs. Sumathi on 24-7-1996 caused by the negligence and carelessness of the respondents 2, 3 and 4.
(2.) THE petitioners are father and minor children of one Sumathi. Sumathi fell in love with one Chandrasekar and married him. She gave birth to a son. The said Chandrasekar ill-treated her and she was sent to her matrimonial residence. Thereafter she gave birth to another son. Village Panchayat was also held; in that they were separated. Thereafter, the daughter was living with the father. While so, on 16-7-1996, a mid-wife employed in the Chengleput Medical College Hospital, chengleput who is also a relative of chandrasekar made Sumathi to undergo family planning operation immediately after the second delivery. On 22-7-1996, the said Sumathi was taken to the Chengleput medical College Hospital and a family planning operation was performed on her. Though she was physically and mentally fit before the operation, she developed acute stomach pain after the operation. On the very same day, i. e. , on 23-7-1996, she was once again operated upon. Next day on 24-7-1996, when the father went to see the daughter, he had seen the daughter lying in the corridor of the Hospital, bleeding through the nostrils, mouth and ears. Within minutes thereafter, the daughter died. Thereafter, the body was buried without even conducting post mortem. The father of the girl gave a police complaint on 31-6-1996 to the Chingleput Town Police Station which was registered as Crime No. 531 of 1996. He also gave a petition to the Tahsildar, chegleput to exhume the body for the purpose of conducting post mortem. Accordingly, the body was exhumed on 2-8-1996 and post-mortem was conducted by a team of Doctors. Post-mortem report does not reveal the cause of death. Certain parts of the corpse was sent for chemical analysis, but the chemical analysis report was not furnished to the father of the girl. Therefore, he made representation from 26-8-1996 onwards for furnishing the chemical analysis report. But tkat was not furnished to him. Under those circumstances, according to the petitioner, the girl died due to negligence on the part of the hospital authorities. The children have lost their mother which is only due to the negligent manner in which the operation was performed. Therefore, the Government is liable to pay compensation for the loss of life of Sumathi.
(3.) EVEN though notices were served on all the respondents as early as 1997, so far no counter has been filed. The learned Government advocate on the basis of the letter sent by the Dean submitted that all the necessary care was taken, but in spite of that the girl died; but this was not due to negligence. In the affidavit, it is stated that when the father of the girl went to the hospital at about 6. 00 a. m. he found the girl lying on the corridor bleeding through nostril, mouth and ears. In a decision reported in N. Murugan v. Govt. of Tamil Nadu (1997 Writ lr 138, this Court in a similar circumstance, where a person died after the operation and counter was not filed even after seven years, has expressed grief for not filing the counter. The observation made in that decision applies to the facts of the present case.