Father, tempo driver asked to pay woman Rs 3.9L for accident

An accident claims tribunal has ordered that a woman be paid compensation of about Rs 3.9 lakh
By her father, the owner and driver of a tempo and an insurance company for injuries suffered by her in an accident in 2012.
The claimant, Sujata Maruti Jadhav, told the Thane Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) that she was riding pillion on her father's motorcycle driven by her brother on October 15, 2012. The bike brushed against a tempo and her dress got entangled in a hook on the rear side of the three-wheeler.
As the tempo started moving, she slipped from the bike, got dragged on the road and sustained multiple grievous injuries, the woman said in her petition.

She alleged that the accident occurred due to negligence on the part of her brother and the tempo driver as they were driving their vehicles at high speed and in a rash and negligent manner.
The woman said that after the accident, she was admitted to a hospital for several days and had to be operated upon for her injuries.

She said despite spending a huge amount of money on medical treatment, her injuries were not cured and that she suffered from permanent disability.
At the time of accident, the woman was working as a nurse at a hospital in Thane and earning Rs 10,500 per month. She said she also earned Rs 3,000 a month by working part time as a beautician.

However, due to the injuries sustained in the accident, she was unable to do any work.
The woman claimed a compensation of Rs 8 lakh from five respondents - the tempo driver, Zakir Salim Beg; the three- wheeler's owner, Kishor Ramuji Rathod; its insurer IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company Ltd, her father Maruti Bala Jadhav (who owned the motorcycle) and the bike's insurer ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd.
The tempo's driver and the owner did not appear before the tribunal and the case was decided ex-parte against them.
However, the tempo's insurer contested the claim and told the tribunal that the vehicle was not insured with the company at the time of the accident and hence, it was not liable to pay any compensation.

MACT member and district judge K D Vadane observed that the disability certificates issued by two doctors to the woman "appeared doubtful".
He said it has come in the evidence that the applicant has a job as on date, which shows that the injuries and the disability caused to her have not in any way affected her working and earning capacity.
Thus, the applicant is not entitled for any compensation under the "future loss of income" category, he said.
The judge also noted that the FIR in the case reveals that the tempo driver, without taking into consideration the other vehicles which were present on road, moved his three-wheeler towards left, because of which the woman's dress got entangled in the hook and she got dragged.

This act on the part of the tempo driver amounts to carelessness and negligence, the judge observed.
He said the contents of the FIR also reveal that the woman's brother was driving the motorcycle in a narrow passage between the tempo and a truck which resulted in the accident, and this also amounts to carelessness and negligence.
"Taking into consideration all these facts and circumstances, the impugned accident occurred due to composite negligence to the extent of 50 per cent each on the part of tempo driver and the motorcycle driver," judge Vadane said in an order last week.
Hence, the tempo driver, its owner, the motorcycle's owner (the woman's father) and the bike's insurer were jointly and severally responsible for the accident and share the compensation equally, he said.

The judge directed them to pay the woman Rs 3,90,220 along with an interest at eight per cent per annum from the date of filing the claim with the MACT.
The tribunal absolved the IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company of its liability in the case.