PUNE: A
motor accident claims tribunal (MACT) has directed the owner of a private luxury bus and its insurer to jointly pay Rs17.78 lakh as damages to an
army havaldar for the multiple injuries he suffered while travelling in the vehicle. The bus had crashed into a stationary truck at Imampur phata in Ahmednagar in January 2013.
Bhaurao Patil, a havaldar with the College of Military Engineering in Dapodi, stated in his claim petition that he suffered more than 40% disability on account of the injuries. Patil also lost promotion to the post of Nayab Subedar besides losing four years of additional service on account of such promotion.
In January 2014, lawyer Bhaskar B Suryavanshi filed a claim petition on behalf of Patil seeking Rs20 lakh in damages on account of pain and loss suffered by Patil due to injuries caused by rash and negligent driving by the bus driver. The bus was owned by Farookhe Kamal Akbar Ghauri, a resident of Walunj in
Aurangabad and was insured by the United India Insurance Company Ltd. While the tribunal proceeded ex parte against Ghauri after he failed to appear, the insurance company had contested the claim.
However, additional member of MACT Subhash K Karhale, who presided over the hearing, relied on police investigations including the spot panchanama and accident site map that showed the truck was parked to the extreme left on a muddy part of the road and the bus had veered off the tar road to crash into it. The tribunal held that this clearly showed the bus driver was negligent and the accident occurred due to rash driving.
The tribunal also relied on depositions by the military hospital’s orthopaedic surgeon Narendra Kumar Pal, the CME’s medical officer Basavraj Annappa and CME head clerk Rajesh Joshi on matters relating to the victim’s injury, pay scale, and chances of promotion.
Representative image
