A Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has awarded Rs one lakh compensation to the Ministry of Defence and its Commanding Officer, who was driving an Army vehicle which was damaged after being hit by a rashly driven truck in Gurgaon.
The tribunal directed the United India Insurance Company, insurer of the offending truck, to pay Rs one lakh to Commanding Officer Biplab Das for the damages caused to the Army vehicle.
"The accident was caused because of over speeding of the offending vehicle and when the Army truck was taking a U-turn, the offending vehicle could have easily seen that in front.
"Had he (driver of the offending truck) been driving the vehicle at a normal speed, he could have stopped the vehicle which he could not do resulting into the accident," MACT Presiding Officer Deepak Jagotra said, while relying on the testimony of the officer.
According to the petition filed by the Defence Ministry through its Secretary and the Commanding Officer (Das), on April 11, 2004, while he was returning from ration collection duty, he halted near National Security Guard camp in Gurgaon.
When he was about to take a U-turn, the offending truck being driven rashly and negligently by one Idrish hit the Army vehicle and cause severe damages to it, the petition said.
Das, in the petition, told the tribunal that the Army vehicle was technically inspected by the station workshop in Delhi Cantonment area and it was found that the vehicle was downgraded from class III to class VI and the cost of the damage was assessed at nearly Rs 4.5 lakh.
In their defence, the driver and owner of the truck claimed that the army vehicle driver did not signal before taking a U-turn.
The tribunal, however, rejected the contention of the driver and owner but accepted the claim of the insurance company that Idrish did not have a valid driving licence at the time of the accident.
It allowed the insurance company to recover the compensation amount from the owner of the truck.
