A Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has granted a cumulative compensation of ₹32 lakh to the families of two persons who were fatally hit by a car while crossing the Yamuna Expressway in 2016. Both the victims were labourers and worked at a private company. One victim was 29 years old, while the other was 23.
Witness account
The Tribunal held the driver of the offending vehicle guilty of negligent and rash driving on the basis of an eye-witness account by the brother of one of the victims.
Eye-witness Ranjit Kumar, brother of victim Saravan Kumar Gupta, deposed that when he along with his brother and his friend Pankaj Chaudhary, another victim in the accident, was crossing the Yamuna Expressway in front of Super Tech Sec-96, Noida when the incident happened.
Mr. Kumar said the offending vehicle was being driven in a rash and negligent manner and hit his brother and his friend due to which they both suffered fatal injuries.
‘No rash driving’
The insurance company with which the offending vehicle was insured opposed the compensation petitions by the family members of the two victims, saying that the vehicle was not involved in the accident as FIR was registered against an unknown person.
The driver and owner of the vehicle, in their joint written submission, said that the accident did not take place due to rash and negligent driving by the driver of the offending vehicle.
However, Presiding Officer of the Tribunal, Raj Kumar Chauhan, rejected their arguments and ordered the insurance company to pay compensation to families of the two victims.
“I hereby award an amount of ₹13,93,756to petitioners/legal heirs of deceased Saravan and an amount of ₹18,52,648to petitioners/legal heirs of deceased Pankaj Chaudhary as compensation with interest at the rate of 9% per annum, from the date of filing the petitions, till the date of realisation of the amount, in favour of the petitioners and against the respondents on account of their liability being joint and several,” Mr. Chauhan said.
