A couple from the district who lost their two children in an accident in 2014 have been awarded a compensation of Rs 13.2 lakh by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) here.
MACT member and District Judge N N Shrimangale, absolving the insurance company of the liability, held that the owner of the offending vehicle was liable to make the payment to the claimants with 12 per cent interest from the date of the claim, filed on April 26, 2014.
The tribunal ordered that the couple be paid Rs 6.60 lakh each for the death of their two children.
The claimants, Sudam Kashinath Pardhi (35) and Sonali Sudam Pardhi (30), informed the tribunal that their two children -- daughter Jyoti and son Sameer (then aged 7 and 5 respectively) -- were playing at an open space next to their house at Katkaripada under Umbarkhand village in Bhiwandi township of Thane on April 19, 2014.
At that time, a tempo came near their house. When the vehicle was being reversed to unload rice bags, it dashed against a wall. As a result, the tempo and the wall fell on the two kids and they were buried alive in the debris.
The claimants' advocate, S Y Tawde, informed MACT that both the deceased were students, and lodged a claim of Rs 10 lakh for each of them against tempo owner Gopal Sitaram Gharat and Reliance General Insurance Company Limited.
The insurance firm's advocate, Alka Phadtare, told the MACT that the vehicle owner fabricated the policy period in the cover note showing it to be from March 22, 2014, to March 21, 2015, while it was actually signed on April 21, 2014.
She said the vehicle owner did this to establish that the policy period was covering the date of the accident.
She also contended that the tempo owner did not produce all documents pertaining to the policy. Also, the vehicle owner did not come in the witness box to face cross-examination by the advocates of the insurance company and the applicants, Phadtare argued.
The applicants' counsel submitted that the future of his clients is ruined with the death of their children. Therefore, he sought compensation which may be sufficient for the applicants to pass their remaining lives.
The judge, in a recent order, observed that the policy filed is fake. Thus, the insurance company is not liable to pay the compensation as the claim of the applicants legally does not stand against it.
While disposing of two separate claims (one for each kid, the judge said the tempo owner is liable to pay Rs 6.6 lakh for each of the child to the applicants.
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