- (1.)The Petitioner has approached this Court by invoking jurisdiction under seeking a direction upon the Respondents to pay adequate compensation to him in view of injury sustained by him, while he was discharging duty on 16.2.1998 for the purpose of conduct of Mid-term Lok Sabha election of the year 1998.
(2.)The factual matrix in the present case is not in much controversy. As per the pleadings, it is common case of the parties that Mid-term Lok Sabha election was held in the year 1998. A truck bearing registration No. BRB 8519 belonging to one Shri Paras Lai of Gaya town, of which the Petitioner was the driver, was requisitioned by the competent authority in exercise of powers under Section 160 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act" in short) for the said Mid-term Lok Sabha election in the district of Gaya. It is the case of the Petitioner, which has not been disputed by the Respondents, that the truck in question was requisitioned on 4.2.1998 and the Petitioner reported to the requisitioning officer under the control of Respondent No. 3. It is also the admitted case of the parties that on 16.2.1998 polling had taken place, and the Petitioner was deputed with one Shri Narendra Singh, the Patrolling Magistrate No. 627 in Atri Legislative Constituency segment. After the polling was over, the Petitioner was carrying ballot boxes from certain booths on his aforesaid truck, and while he was returning with the ballot boxes, some unknown criminals resorted to firing near Village-Sankarbigha in the district of Gaya, as a result of which Petitioner sustained injury in his eyes, it is claimed that Petitioner suffered complete loss of vision in his left eye and partial damage was caused to the vision of his right eye as well, as a result of which he was taken to the Magadh Medical College, Gaya for treatment, and subsequently, he underwent treatment at the Nursing Home or Dr. A.K. Tiwari. The discharge ticket issued by Magadh Medical College, Gaya and certificate issued by Dr. A.K. Tiwari have been brought on record as Annexures-9 and 2, respectively, in support of the claim that there was complete loss of vision in the left eye and partial loss of vision in the right eye.
(3.)In view of the injuries sustained by the Petitioner, during the course of election duty, he submitted representation dated 19.5.1998 (Annexure-3) before the Respondent-District Magistrate-cum-District Election Officer, Gaya claiming compensation. Thereafter, by letter dated 24th August, 2000 (Annexure-4), the Respondent No. 3 recommended to the Respondent- Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar for grant of compensation to the Petitioner. The fact that the Petitioner was on election duty on 16.2.1998 and had sustained injuries, has been admitted in that letter dated 24th August, 2000. It further appears that there was some more communications between the officials, and thereafter, the Respondent-District Magistrate was directed to make recommendation about quantum of compensation to be paid to the Petitioner. However, by letter, contained in Annexure-6, Respondent-District Magistrate expressed his inability to make specific recommendation about specific amount of compensation payable to the Petitioner, because there was no departmental guidelines on that issue at the relevant time and hence, the Petitioner filed the present writ petition for the reliefs sought for.