Family members of road mishap victim get Rs 67.49 lakh

The family of a 55-year-old man who died in a road accident caused by a "dangerously parked" truck on a UP highway, has been awarded a compensation of Rs 67.49 lakh by a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) here.
MACT Presiding Officer Manish Gupta asked the New India Assurance Company Ltd to pay Rs 67,49,856 to the family members of Delhi resident Ajay Kumar Sharma, who died in the accident in January 2006.
"The accident in question occurred due to utter negligence on part of the driver of the offending truck, which was standing stationary on the road on the date, place and time in question and the same was positioned on the metalled road thereby leaving much less space for the other traffic on road to pass through easily," the court said, adding that the truck was "dangerously parked".

"It was the duty of the truck driver to get the said truck removed through crane from that place in order to clear the road and in order to avoid any mishappening due to accident on account of negligent parking of the truck on the road," it said.
According to the family's petition, on January 1, 2006, the car in which Sharma was travelling from Allahabad to Varanasi rammed into the rear portion of the truck which was wrongly parked on the highway without any indication on and around it. Sharma suffered multiple injuries and died on the spot.
The petition claimed that Sharma was earning Rs 53,475 per month and sought a compensation of Rs two crore.

The owner and the insurer of the vehicle, however, denied that the truck was standing without any indication.