A Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT) has asked the Thane Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra to pay a compensation of Rs 60 lakh to the family of a traffic policeman who died in a road accident while on duty in 2016.
The tribunal held that just because the family had received insurance and provident fund pay-outs, it cannot be deprived of the compensation.
MACT member R N Rokade directed the Thane Municipal Transport (TMT), the civic bus service, to pay the amount to the family of constable Chandrakant Salunke, with an eight per cent interest from the date of claim added on it.
Advocate Natha N Jahav, who represented the family, said that on March 11, 2016, when Salunke (43) was on duty on Ghodbunder Road in Thane city, he spotted a tempo running on the wrong side. He stopped the tempo.
But, as he was questioning the driver, a TMT bus came at a high-speed and ran over Salunke before hitting the tempo and he policeman was killed on the spot, Jahav said.
The constable's wife Kirti Salunke, two teenage children and parents approached the MACT, demanding that the TMT pay them compensation as Salunke died because of the bus driver's fault, and he was the sole earning member of the family.
As per the police probe, the bus driver was drunk at the time and was driving rashly.
The municipal corporation's lawyers pleaded that the family had already received insurance amount of Rs 10 lakh and also Salunke's provident fund, so they cannot demand any compensation.
The tribunal rejected the argument. In its order last week, it noted that the Bombay High Court, in a 2014 case, had held that an accident victim or his/her dependents cannot be denied compensation on the ground that they got insurance amount.
The MACT directed that of the total compensation, Rs 4 lakh each should be paid to Salunke's parents, Rs 15 lakh each to his two children and the balance to his wife.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
