Coming to the aid of a conductor given a paltry amount as compensation by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal for a disability following an accident, the Madras High Court today enhanced the amount given from Rs 76,000 to Rs 7.48 lakh.
Allowing a petition by conductor G Uthiramuthu, Justice S Vimala directed Oriental Insurance company to deposit the entire amount along with 7.5 per cent rate interest from the date of filing of petition till date of deposit, within six weeks from date of receipt of of the order.
The petitioner said the accident occurred on February 17, 2001, when a lorry laden with iron bar dashed against the bus from the rear after it had stopped to allow passengers get off. He sustained grievous injuries and suffered 40 per cent disability in vertebrae, he said.
The transport corporation paid compensation through court from 2001 and 2002. From 2003 to 2007, he was neither paid salary nor given alternative employment.
In 2008, he was given alternative employment and in 2009 attained superannuation. Against his claim of Rs five lakh compensation, the Tribunal in 2003 awarded Rs.76,000 with a finding there was no loss of income.
The judge said the Tribunal has disallowed loss of income without understanding the nature and consequences of the injury and the impact of disability on his daily life and set aside its order.
She said the petitioner's 'pathetic' request through a notice asking the corporation to send at least a communication informing him if he has been terminated from service or to pay him salary showed the employer was blind to his ailment,though the injury sustained by him was 'out of' and 'in course of employment'.
The stepmotherly treatment given to him at a time when he ought to have been treated with compassion would be evident from the proceedings of the Corporation, including the show cause notice as to why he should not be terminated when the medical board had certified that he was permanently incapacitated from doing any further service, the judge added.
The judge said issuance of show cause notice and reluctance of the employer to offer alternative employment only went to show the corporation had added insult to injury.
The claimant had suffered this insult partly on account of injuries sustained and partly due to insensitivity of the employer for which he has to be compensated, the judge added and applied the multiplier method to arrive at a compensation at Rs 7.48 lakh.
