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The plea was filed a the family of a deceased, who lost his life colliding with a stationary bus parked in the middle of the road without any signal or light indicator.
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- The victim’s family wants an enhancement of compensation awarded by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT).
- The victim’s family was given Rs 17,49,491 as compensation.
- The deceased was driving a motorcycle which collided with a DTC bus parked in the middle of the road.
The Delhi High Court has said rash and negligent driving does not in every case necessarily mean excessive speed, adding not taking due care while driving the vehicle and in particular overtaking, either stationary or moving vehicle, would also amount to rash and negligent driving.
Justice Gaurang Kanth was hearing an appeal from the family of a deceased, who lost his life colliding with a stationary bus parked in the middle of the road without any signal or light indicator.
The family had approached the High Court for enhancement of compensation awarded by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT).
The deceased was driving a motorcycle, which collided with a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus parked in the middle of the road without any signal or light indicator. As a result of collision, the deceased sustained fatal injuries and expired next day.
A case was later registered under Sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 337 (causing hurt to any person by doing any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and a chargesheet was also filed under Sections 279 and 304-A (causing death by negligence) of IPC.
Subsequently, the family of the deceased approached the MACT seeking a compensation of Rs 50 lakh.
The MACT awarded an amount of Rs 17,49,491 as compensation with an interest @7.5% per annum from the date of filing the petition till realization is made by the insurance company. It had also held that 20 per cent of the total awarded compensation is to be deducted as this is a case of contributory negligence.
“Rash and negligent driving does not in every case necessarily mean the excessive speed. Not taking due care while driving the vehicle and in particular overtaking, either stationary or moving vehicle also would amount to rash and negligent driving. Hence, this court is in complete agreement with the learned Claims Tribunal and the deceased is guilty of contributory negligence to the extent of 20%,” the High Court said while agreeing with the order of the MACT on contributory negligence.
The High Court, however, taking into consideration various factors like the nature of the employment and age of the deceased who was aged about 54 years at the time of accident in 2012, enhanced the compensation awarded by MACT from Rs. 17,49,491 to Rs. 42,16,747.88 and upheld the MACT order of 20 per cent deduction out of total awarded compensation for contributory negligence.
“In view of the foregoing reasons and discussions, the compensation is increased from Rs. 17,49,491 to Rs. 42,16,747.88. However, 20% of the total awarded compensation is to be deducted as this is a case of contributory negligence. Therefore, Rs. 8,43,349.57 is to be deducted from the awarded compensation towards the contributory negligence,” the High Court ordered and directed the insurance company to deposit the enhanced amount with 7.5% interest from the date of filing of the appeal till the date of deposit within four week.