The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in Thane district has awarded ₹5 lakh compensation with 9 per cent annual interest to the mother of a 12-year-old boy who died after being run over by a Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation garbage truck in May 2021.
MACT Member R V Mohite on Monday directed The New India Assurance Company Ltd to pay the compensation and permitted the insurer to recover the entire amount from the civic commissioner of Kalyan-Dombivli, holding that there had been a breach of the insurance policy conditions.
The tribunal found that the garbage truck did not have a valid fitness certificate at the time of the accident and that the driver also lacked a valid transport-class driving licence.
Accident In Kalyan
According to the case, 12-year-old Amit Jagdish Dhakad was playing on a road opposite a residential building in Kalyan on May 22, 2021, when the garbage truck, while reversing at high speed, hit him. He suffered fatal injuries.
The KDMC argued before the tribunal that the truck driver had been supplied by private contractor Vishal Expert Services Pvt Ltd. It also relied on Government Resolution advisories issued during the COVID-19 period regarding extension of the validity of vehicle fitness certificates and driving licences.
The tribunal, however, noted from RTO records that the truck’s fitness certificate had expired on March 10, 2013 and had never been renewed. The driver’s transport-class licence had expired on August 13, 2019.
Judge Mohite observed that the licence had expired well before the COVID-19 lockdown and remained unrenewed even during the period when no lockdown was in force. The tribunal held that the driver had operated the vehicle without a valid licence and fitness certificate, amounting to a breach of the policy conditions.
KDMC Cannot Deny Liability
The tribunal further held that KDMC, as the owner of the offending vehicle, was expected to verify the driving licences of drivers supplied by the private contractor.
It noted that KDMC had not placed any verification report on record. The tribunal said that although Vishal Expert Services had agreed to provide drivers for KDMC garbage vehicles, the civic body could not avoid liability towards third parties in accident claims involving its vehicle.
For calculating compensation, the tribunal took the child’s notional annual income at ₹30,000 and applied a multiplier of 15, along with amounts under conventional heads.
The insurance company has been directed to deposit ₹5 lakh, along with 9 per cent annual interest from the date of filing of the petition, in the tribunal’s bank account within one month. The amount will thereafter be transferred directly to the claimant’s account.
