A Motor Accident Claims Tribunal has given ₹18.82 lakh compensation to the family of a 49-year-old private employee who was killed in a head-on collision with a truck in Haryana’s Faridabad in 2017.
The victim’s wife had demanded a compensation of ₹60 lakh, submitting that her husband was earning ₹15,000 per months. As she could not provide any document in support of his income or avocation, the Tribunal decided the compensation on the basis of minimum wages of ₹9,553 per month prevailing at that time in Haryana.
The victim was travelling on a bicycle when the truck hit him plying on the wrong side of the road. The truck overturned, while the victim was injured fatally. The driver had then fled the spot.
The victim later died at the Safdarjung Hospital during treatment.
The driver and the owner of the vehicle, in their joint written statement, denied the occurrence of the accident. They alleged that the claim petition had been filed in collusion with the Sarai Khwaja police station at Faridabad.
The insurance company with which the offending vehicle was insured said that the vehicle was being driven without permit and fitness certificate and its driver was not holding a driving licence.
The petitioner proved the charges of negligent and rash driving on the part of the truck driver on the basis of the account of a caretaker of a nursery near which the accident had taken place.
The vehicle owner, the driver and the insurance company led no evidence against the petition.
‘Driver’s negligence’
Holding the truck driver responsible for the accident, the Tribunal’s Presiding Officer Hardeep Kaur said: “In view of the chargesheet filed against the driver and the testimony of the eyewitness, it is held that the accident occurred due to negligence of the driver of the offending vehicle.”
Though the Tribunal asked the insurance company to the pay the compensation to the victim’s family, it gave it the right to recover the amount from the driver and the owner of the vehicle as the former was driving the vehicle without a driving licence.
