The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) here has awarded a compensation of Rs 1.35 crore to the family of a 48-year-old man killed in a road accident in 2018.
MACT Chairman S B Agrawal, in the order passed on February 12, ordered that the owner of the offending bus and its insurance company pay the compensation amount jointly and severally along with an interest of 7.5 per cent from the date of filing of the petition till realisation.
A copy of the order was made available on Monday.
The victim, Agnel Iypunny Chakramakil, resident of Mira Road area in Thane, and four other occupants of a car were killed after a bus hit their vehicle on Sinnar-Shirdi road in Maharashtra on November 11, 2018.
The petitioners — Agnel’s 52-year-old wife and son aged 31 — argued that the bus was driven recklessly and on the wrong side of the road leading to the fatal collision.
They had sought Rs 2.70 crore as compensation for Agnel’s death.
The owner of the bus did not appear before the tribunal and hence the matter was decided ex-parte against him, while the insurer contested the claim, arguing that Agnel was not in permanent employment.
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However, the tribunal, citing precedents, found that being in private employment did not preclude a permanent employment status and confirmed the insurer’s liability to compensate the petitioners.
The tribunal calculated the claim considering Agnel’s monthly income of Rs 1 lakh with an additional 30 per cent for future income prospects.
The MACT applied a multiplier of 13 based on the deceased’s age, arriving at the compensation figure Rs 1,35,90,052 that included amounts for loss of income, estate, consortium and funeral expenses.
The tribunal directed that Rs 1 crore be kept in a fixed deposit for the man’s wife and Rs 5 lakh for his son and the remainder and accrued interests be paid to the woman by account payee cheques.
