Himachal Pradesh High Court ordered both the VNR Vigana Jyothi College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad and HP State Electricity Board  hand interim relief of Rs 5 lakh to each of the parents of 24 engineering students who lost there lives in the accident on 8 June. The college and the state electricity board had been directed to deposit 50% each of the interim relief with the court by 9 July. The court would directly monitor the investigation of FIR registering the accident and appointed senior advocate Dilip Sharma as Amicus Curiae to assist the court in the case. The bench directed Superintendent Police, Mandi to file status of investigation by or before 9 July, the next hearing date. Before granting ...

The HP government told the HP High court that Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, who visited the site of the accident has reported that no warning system whatsoever was found installed at the site and there were no notice boards carrying message of warning etc. “Too much time is being taken by the divisional commissioner to complete his inquiry into the incident,’‘ the court said. It has also asked the government to be prepared for a heavy interim compensation to the families of the victims. While taking cognizance of the state government efforts to trace the bodies of students, the court expressed dis-satisfaction about the explanations offered in the status reports about the cause of accident saying, “but it leads to nowhere.”  The court also ...