Milk vendor awarded Rs 1L claim for cattle death in accident

The Thane Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has awarded a claim of Rs 1 lakh to a milk vendor for the accidental death of his cattle.
MACT member and adhoc district judge M H More awarded the claim filed by Deonarayan Ram Naresh Jaiswar, a milkman from Fansipada of MIDC Shilphata in Ambernath.
Jaiswar stated in his complaint that on October 19, 2005, his four buffaloes were killed by a truck due to rash and negligent driving by the vehicle's driver.
According to the applicant, each buffalo rendered about 15 litres milk every day.
He substantiated the claim with the valuation of the buffaloes given by the veterinarian at the time of postmortem of the carcasses and submitted that he had suffered a loss worth about Rs 90,000.

The respondents in the claim petition were Rambhau Sandho Hiwarale, the driver of the vehicle, Baliram Narayan Dawre, (owner of the vehicle) and The New India Assurance Company Ltd.

The tribunal gave the verdict ex-parte against the owner and driver of the vehicle while the insurance company contested the claim, stating that the application was false, frivolous and not maintainable.
The insurance company said the applicant has no right to file the said application because the death of the buffaloes was not caused due to accident of the said vehicle.
The insurance company also stated that the claim made by the applicant was high, excessive, exorbitant and therefore unreasonable.

However, the tribunal, in its recent order said that after carefully going through the documents, it was clear that the buffaloes met with an accident and died.
The MACT member also observed that the spot panchanama clearly showed that the offending vehicle was coming from Badlapur to Shilphata Road and it was on the slope. The driver could not control the speed of vehicle and dashed into the buffaloes.
Considering the value of buffaloes and monthly earning from them, the tribunal directed the three respondents to jointly pay a compensation of Rs one lakh to the applicant.