MACT awards Rs 90 lakh compensation to engineer's family

An insurance company and a two-wheeler rider have been directed by District Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) to pay Rs 90 lakh to the family of a software engineer, who died in a road accident in 2007.
The judgement was delivered on Monday by Additional Sessions Judge Mridula V K Bhatia, after the court was given the powers of tribunal, recently.
The judge directed Tribhuvan P Vishwakarma, owner of Bajaj M-80 scooter, and United India Insurance Co Ltd to jointly make the payment to the family of deceased Gopal Kanhaiyalal Mohta (then aged 32), a resident of Vartak Nagar here.

Appearing of behalf of the claimants, P M Tillu told the Tribunal that Mohta was a computer science engineer and employed with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as assistant consultant since August, 1997. He drew a salary of Rs 1.07 lakh per month.
On March 31, 2007, Mohta was travelling on his two-wheeler from Laxmi Nagar to his home when another two-wheeler, driven at a high speed and in a negligent manner, dashed into the latter's bike, injuring him grievously, Tillu said.
The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to injuries during treatment on April 4. The family then lodged a claim of Rs 2 crore with the MACT.

The owner of the scooter, Vishwakarma, in his submission, told the Tribunal that his vehicle was insured and hence the insurance company was liable to pay the compensation and not him. He argued that the deceased died due to his sole negligence.

Tillu argued that the scooter driver had committed breach of section 134 of Motor vehicle Act and was totally negligent, which that could be inferred from the fact that he went home after the accident instead of reporting it to the police or rendering medical help to the injured.
A K Tiwari, appearing on behalf of the insurance company,

submitted that the employment of the deceased, as shown, was not permanent and was contractual in nature.
He also added the police authority concerned had not informed about the accident to the court. Therefore, there was a serious dispute and the insurers do not agree with the occurrence of the accident involving the vehicle as indicated.
He further argued that as per police papers, it is clear that the deceased is negligent to the extent of 90 per cent and the driver of another vehicle was negligent to the extent of 10 per cent only.
Claimants' counsel Tillu and the defence counsel cited several rulings of high courts and the apex court, for and against the case.

Deceased's father, K M Mohta, told the tribunal that his son was 32-year-old at the time of his death and would have served till the age of 60. He would have currently fetched a salary of nearly Rs 2 per month. He also said his son was a permanent employee of TCS.
Based on the submissions, the judge observed that the deceased was at best negligent only to the extent of 25 per cent while the accused driver was 75 per cent negligent.
The tribunal also observed that the deceased was an engineer from a reputed institute of Mumbai. It was also clear from Form 16 and salary certificate, Mohta's employment with TCS and it stands undisputed.

The claimants in the case were deceased's wife Rajnidevi; children Nikita and Nikhil, father K M Mohta, and mother Sarojadevi.