Following is an example of one such opinion relating the matter:
Please refer your letter xxxxx signed by a section of august members of our Society. It is needless to repeat the contents.
The subject matter that the letter deals is distressing far down in the mind of all individual members.
For the sake of clarity, The Managing committee of the Society is of the opinion that when all of us had come together to form the Cooperative Society we have accepted the fact that that we were building up a community life within the housing co-operative, based on good neighborhood and fellow feelings wherein each is for all and all are for each. The relationship thus established created a bond between members, which inspired them to undertake further activities and social life on a shared basis. This is also in accordance with the Directive Principles of the State Policy enshrined in our Constitution which inter-alia provides for securing a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people.
Welfare of the members also includes the all-round development of their children. All of us are familiar with this; neither is it the purpose of the Managing Committee to impart ‘gyan’. The Managing Committee only wish to include all of you in loud thinking that the provision for an exclusive Children’s Park or Play ground is the only solution to the concerns raised. To that end we all are aware that the Society has limited financial resources to effectively handle the issue by providing a Children’s Park or play ground. So, any attempt like the present one that shunts the problem to the Managing Committee will only mean rest of you want to keep the issue unanswered and run away from it’s rewards.
It is not appropriate for the Managing Committee to say that the children should be constrained and deprived from playing. Managing Committee therefore believe that this subject matter must be thrown in realm of the all individual members for their assessment and apt solution.
You may kindly peruse and ponder, During the thought process many complex issues will surface that may include act of negligence, nuisance etc. determination of remedies and liabilities, payment of adequate damages and so on. We are also witness to an era where we have been settling these issues amicably.
Strictly speaking, there is no vicarious liability on the part of parents, guardians or any supervising adult unless they owed to the child direct duty of care or gave the child the opportunity to cause damage. This is because minors are typically held by law to a different standard of care than adults. For example, a minor's negligence may be evaluated against what reasonably careful person of the same age, mental capacity and experience would exercise under the same or similar circumstances.
Very young minors e.g. minors under the age of seven are typically presumed to be incapable of negligence.
Nevertheless, we will imbibe within ourselves a notion of responsibility, authority and control controlling our children in order to prevent harm to third parties.
May be, we need to discuss and arrive on a typical formula for evaluating negligence on the part of both the parties: Children as well as the members to prove that there was e evidence to show the act of negligence:
1. Children playing game and their parents owed a duty to the other members.
2. The child has violated that duty;
3. As a result of the child’s violation of that duty, the member has suffered injury; and
4. The injury was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the child’s action or inaction.
On the part of the members, for example, a person driving a car has a general duty to conduct the car in a safe and responsible manner understanding the need of children’s recreation with in a specific time.
This will require some moral suasion rather than simply forming two groups: 1. Parents whose children have passed the stage of needing the ground to play and, 2. Parents whose children are in play-group. We will then talk about framing of rules of strict liability under negligence and comity of nuisance, e.g. Principles, such as the “polluter pays”. We will also discuss measure for restitution of property. We will work on: whenever an exigency arises, a precedent shall be set up to take care of the peculiar situation. This, we believe, is a good solution to cope up with.
The essence is that we need to be sensitive to children’s recreation with open mind and must bring about desired solution irrespective of whether or not the rules were framed in the past prohibiting the children from playing some specific or other games in the Society. You may circulate this letter amongst co-opt to your letter.
Regards
Hon. Secretary
