Hi,since the construction was not done properly by the adjacent owner ,your cold storage cannot be held responsible for the leakage
Are we liable
We have a cooling tower and water reservoir for our cold Storage unit located along the boundary wall of our property. Someone else constructed a new cold room along with our cooling tower wall without leving any space and moreover wall of chamber on our side of coolling tower was not even plastered leave alone water proofing .Many years later he has filed a suit against us that water from our reservoir is seeping into his chamber thus seeking stay for shut down and repair of our reservoir as well as compensation. We believe our reservoir has large volume of water So it can't seep but will flood if any leaks persists. Secondly we clean and check our reservoir annually in winter when colds are empty. We never find anything suspicious in our reservoir. We feel our reservoir is fully fine. We believe water droplets from our tower falling on their unplastered wall might be seeping in . We have huge quantity of items in cold so we just can't shut it to satisfy them. Is it our fault that they have made a cold room alongside our cooling tower and our water seeping Through untreated wall. They should have plastered and made it damp proof.
Asked 5 years ago in Civil Law
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20 Answers
Contact an expert civil engineer and obtain his written opinion as to cause of seepage
2) file detailed reply denying allegations made in suit filed by plaintiff
3) burden of proof is upon plaintiff to prove allegations made in plaint
1. Well if you had left set back area as mandates by local civic authority tfrn you have got nothing to worry. On the contrary if your neighbour has not left area then his suit would fail.
2. So appear in the suit and contest it by filing counter claim of mandatory injunction.
Normal seepage is alright for which no actionable wrong will lie against you.
No ,there is absolutely no fault of yours..
Your reservoir is absolutely fine and legal for the purpose of farming and land cultivation.
Pl get information through RTI about blue print and approved plan of the premises of your opponents and find out their exact location, size,space and plan approved for the business.
Pl check the license of their business from local authorities for valid reasons if not Please start writing expressly to all authorities against your opponents to shut their business down as per the Law.
Please let me know the status of suit pending or disposed off between you and your opponents.
You have right and legal activities. I could guess your opponents have illegal business and without proper license to carry it out in day to day activities.
Hence you may issue a legal notice to your opponents questioning their objection on your lawful reservoir and its day to day activities.
No if you are not liable for the said seepage then court will not give any injunction to them. It will be decided after a expert committee
When they have built a cold room right along with our cooling tower without plaster or water proofing Is still the onus lies with us to prevent Water of our cooling tower touching their bare wall Right adjacent (4 ft ) away as cooling tower existed before..
Asked 5 years ago
Onus is not upon you but upon plaintiff to prove allegations
they should ha e done water proofing , plastering
Sincere cooling tower has been made constructed well before he has constructed his cold room this is to make sure that there should not be any leakage and seepage to his property and you have made the proper arrangement that's your cooling tower should not make any surprise to the others although it is difficult to get stay order in this regard but you need to fight the case and let the court decide based on the submissions from both the parties.
Your basic liability to prevent water seepage doesn't go away with the defective construction made by your neighbour.
You need to point out the same to court if the same is filed by them then court will consider your stand and deny them relief
No liability, keep the proof of installation of your tower exists much befor they built clold room right along with your cooling tower without plastering or water proofing.
They have built their cold room after proper lay out and planning of structure by an architect needs approval from local officials.
Hence no liability and it's not your responsibility to look into the matter.
Let them take care of themselves, it's not your problem.
The observations you have made in your own reservoir may be reduced to writing and get a certificate to establish the facts as per your observations through an engineer.
You can submit the your valid and genuine points along with your written statement and deny his allegations.
Besides you may also note down the flaws be it technical or otherwise on his side and document the same while presenting the same before court during the final argument in the case and get his case dismissed.
You can mention in your written statement that the alleged seepage may due to their own fault of not plastering their wall of the cold storage or for not leaving adequate space while constructing their cold storage which was built after yor storage was constructed.
You can deny their allegations on the basis of the facts that you have conveyed in your written statement long with the supporting documents.
You may discuss in detail with your advocate before filing the written statement
1. Legally both parties are wrong and have not maintained the i meter minimum distance required from the compound wall, under the Regional Town Planning Act.
2. Since you have apprehensions that "some water droplets might be seeping into the un-plastered wall" (which is on your side), you are advised to refrain from costly legal litigations and have that much portion of wall (which is on your side) properly water-proofed & plastered (this will be cheaper) and amicably settle the issue.
3. IF you wish to pursue the legal matter, THEN obtain an registered architect /engineer's report & drawings of both the cooling towers to determine the cause & extent of such leakages /damages. This will be required to prove your case, during court litigation.
Contest the suit filed by him on merits.
You need to file your written statement / reply to his suit denying all the allegations, and highlighting the issue that the wall on your side is not plastered and file photos to support your averment.
Burden of proving lies on him.
Further file an application for appointment of Certified Civil Engineer for inspection and filing of report.
Based on which, the court will be able to reach to logical conclusion and pass orders accordingly.
No, the onus lies on him and the burden of proving will be heavily on him. He has to prove his case.
You can take photos of the said wall and demonstrate to the court that, due to non application of water proofing and not plastering the wall it is his wall which is causing the problem etc.
Further, as replied above, the findings / report of CE will be helpful in reaching to correct conclusion.
1. What happened to the civil suit filed against you?
2. Even if he has built a cold room next to your cooling tower you are under an inescapable obligation to prevent the water from your tower leak into his room and damage his property.
Well if that is the case then they are guilty of negligence and hence should pay compensation for the same.
It was their responsibility to correctly build the tower and building.
Please get the situation on the spot duly checked by the approved engineer and obtain a copy of the report and file the same before the court where suit is pending , the engineer will also give his evidence in your favour and by this way without any hassle your case may become strong.
1. No it's definitely not your fault that he doesn't take precautions while construction of his tower.
2. You should make application in court for investigation by LC of court and presenting report on next date of hearing while construction of both towers and date of construction.
