NEW DELHI: An Australian woman rendered a quadriplegic due to an injury received at an ITDC hotel in Delhi 35 years ago has been awarded compensation to the tune of Rs 6.5 crore by the Delhi high court on Friday.

A special bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudarshan Kumar Mishra also slapped a cost of Rs 75,000 on ITDC for raising “groundless objections” and for continuing proceedings on specious grounds.

“The attempts to prove that Susan Leigh Beer was a liar despite convincing answers from her shows a stubborn desire to somehow wrest arguing points for the final hearing. Line of questioning also showed ITDC in a poor light as callous and insensitive. That it is a public sector organization only aggravates the disregard for (her) suffering,” the bench said while dismissing the ITDC appeal challenging a single-bench order.

Upset that the victim’s suit has been hanging fire since 1982, the court enhanced the payable rate of interest from 6% to 9.17% applicable since the date of filing of suit to the decree passed first in 2011.

“The average interest rate for fixed deposits, notified by RBI for 1982-83 to 2010-11 (29 years) works out to 9.17% p.a,” the division bench said while fixing compensation at roughly Rs 1.84 crore payable at the enhanced interest rate. Advocate Anup Kumar Sinha, who represented Susan, told TOI the payable sum would be around Rs 6.7 crore with interests.

Susan was 18 when she slipped on the slimy floor of the swimming pool in Akbar Hotel. She had entered the pool at its shallow end but the glazed tiles and their poor upkeep resulted in her fall. A severe injury in her neck crippled her for life. Her case was pursued by the Australian legal aid services and saw visits by medical experts and lawyers to Australia to take her evidence and assess physical damage. Susan, who was a member of Queensland women’s polo team, had come to India on holiday with her family. ITDC had claimed she was injured as she dived into the pool at the shallow end. It also maintained the pool was clean but couldn’t prove it.

HC took note that Susan underwent prolonged hospitalization here before she was flown to Australia. Costs borne by her family for treatment and other travel expenses led the court to award the compensation.

