Kin of rail mishap victim to get Rs 30 lakh compensation

A local court has directed the South Central Railway (SCR) and an insurance firm to pay Rs 30 lakh as compensation to the family members of a businessman, who was killed in a mishap in 2009.
District and Sessions Judge V S Deshpande in a recent order has directed the SCR to pay a compensation of Rs 30 lakh to the kin of Hiralal Agrawal, who was killed at an unmanned level crossing in March, 2009.
According to the claimants' counsel, Agrawal was travelling in a car along with trader Anil Jindal, Narayan Thombre and driver Pandrinath Budwant, from Shendra in Aurangabad district to Jalna.

Their vehicle was hit by a train and dragged till about half a kilometre at the unmanned Karmad-Chikalthana railway crossing in Aurangabad.
Later, family members of Agrawal and Jindal filed a writ petition with the District and Sessions Court here against the Railways and insurance firm Oriental Insurance Company, and demanded the compensation.
The claimants' counsel argued before the court that under the Motor Accident Act, Agrawal was a passenger in the car and was covered under insurance policy, and hence, his wife, mother and daughter were entitled for the compensation.

After hearing arguments, the judge ordered SCR and the insurance company to pay Rs 30 lakh to Agrawal's family and also pay an interest of Rs 15 lakh.

The judge also ordered that SCR would pay 70 per cent of the compensation amount, while the insurance company would pay the remaining 30 per cent.
The court, however, rejected the claim of Jindal, stating that he was the owner of the car and was not covered as per the norms of the insurance company.