A PIL has been filed in Madras High Court seeking Rs 20 lakh compensation for the family of a 12-year-old girl from Jharkhand who drowned after falling into a drainage-cum-rainwater canal last month in Vellore.
The first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice MM Sundresh issued a notice in this regard to the state municipal administration secretary, water supply department, the district collector and the commissioner of Vellore Municipal Corporation returnable by three weeks.
The petitioner, a lawyer from Vellore, submitted that Priyanka, who had come with her parents for treatment of her younger sister, fell into the canal near Christian Medical College Hospital (CMC) on June 2.
The girl, daughter of one Indrajeet Mukherjee of Makatpur in Jharkhand, was washed away and her body was recovered only after a 60-hour search by local civic workers aided by the National Disaster Response Force.
Her father, who is a school teacher, had submitted a representation on June 16 to the District Collector seeking financial help.
