Thane: Kin get Rs 7.86 lakh compensation for student’s death in accident 

Thane: The Thane Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has awarded a compensation of Rs 7.86 lakh to a couple for the death of their 19-year-old son, an engineering student, in a road accident in 2015. MACT member and district judge K D Vadane, in an order passed last week, directed the Thane Municipal Transport (TMT), the transport wing of the city civic body, to make the payment to the kin of the deceased.

The victim, Vinayak Achare, a first-year engineering student at a college in Karjat township, was riding his motorcycle back home in Thane on April 3, 2015 when a speeding TMT bus hit his two-wheeler from behind. The boy sustained multiple grievous injuries in the mishap and died, his family told the tribunal.

The Shree Nagar police had registered an offence in connection with the incident, they said. His family members — parents Maruti Tukaram Achare (52) and Alka Maruti Achare (41), and sisters Poonam Maruti Achare (24) and Sonali Maruti Achare (21) — approached the tribunal seeking compensation. They said that in view of the deceased’s educational qualification, his age and future income prospects, they should be given a compensation of Rs 14.8 lakh.

The TMT appeared in the case and argued that the deceased was a student and not earning anything. Therefore, the applicants were not entitled for any compensation. However, the deceased’s father told the tribunal that his son was an engineering student and had he been alive, he would have completed his course, got a good job and earned salary of not less than Rs 25,000 per month.

The judge observed that the evidence on record in the case made it clear that the bus driver drove the vehicle in high speed, and in a rash and negligent manner. “Thus, I hold that the impugned accident occurred due to sole negligence on part of the TMT bus driver,” the judge said, while directing the civic body’s transport wing to pay Rs 7.86 lakh compensation to the deceased’s family along with an eight per cent interest from the date of filing of the claim.