Delhi: Court awards compensation of Rs 2 cr to kin of government official died in road accident

New Delhi [India], May 20 : Delhi's Rohini Court has awarded a compensation of Rs Two crore to the family of a government official, who died in a road accident, caused by a high-speed car in Rohini Area in 2019.

At the time of the accident, the deceased was walking on the road after dinner. The insurance company had submitted that the driver was under the influence of alcohol but it was not proved in the Forensics Science Laboratory (FSL) report.

The deceased was working as a Superintendent in the office of Commissioner Customs in ICDPPG, Delhi. He was 39 years old at the time of the accident and his salary was around Rs 82000.

The widow, two daughters, one son and parents had approached the court seeking compensation.

Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) Judge Ekta Gauba Mann passed the judgement in favour of the dependents of the deceased and against the insurance company after considering the facts and submissions.

The petition is allowed and an award of Rs 2,00,50,000 which includes 44 months and seven days interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from the date of filing the petition till the date of award is passed in favour of petitioners and against the Insurance Company, the judge said in the judgement passed on May 19.

The court said that it is already held that the accident has been caused due to rash and negligent driving by the driver and admittedly, the vehicle was insured by the National Insurance Company.

However, the insurance company had taken the plea that the driver was driving the vehicle under the influence of liquor and so the insurance company is not liable to pay any compensation, the court added.

"But no witness has been examined by the Ins. Co. rather driver examined Jagdeep

Kumar as a witness," the court said.

The court observed that the witness brought the judicial file of the case registered at Police Station Shahbad Dairy and placed on record a copy of the FSL report of the driver.

" I have perused the same, wherein it has been specifically mentioned that "Ethyl alcohol and Methyl alcohol could not be detected", Judge Ekta Gauba Mann said.

Further, no material has come on record which shows that there is a breach of any terms and conditions of the insurance policy of the offending vehicle, she added.

In view of the above and since the Ins. Co. has failed to establish any statutory defence, it is liable to indemnify the owner / insured and to pay compensation to the petitioners, the court said in the judgement.

"Accordingly, the Insurance Company is directed to pay Rs 2,00,50,000 to the petitioners as compensation within 30 days," the court ordered.

Brief facts of the case are that on May 31, 2019 at about 9.45 pm, Arun Kumar Soni and his brother-in-law victim Manish Gautam were walking on the road near their house and when they reached near Tatiksha Public School, Rohini, a car which was driven by driver Mange Ram in a rash and negligent manner came from behind and hit the victim.

The victim fell down on the road and suffered serious injuries. The victim was admitted in a private hospital in Shalimar Bagh and during treatment he died on June 1, 2019.

The driver of the offending vehicle was arrested at the spot and the offending vehicle was seized.

The driver Mange Ram and owner Lalit Dabas filed their joint written statement. They stated in their written statement that no accident was ever caused by him and his vehicle has been falsely implicated in the present case.

It was also stated that the driver is having a valid driving license and alleged offending vehicle was duly insured by the National Insurance Company and the insurance policy was valid upto June 27, 2019.

On the other hand, Ins. Co. in its written statement stated that the offending vehicle was insured with it on the date of the accident.

It also stated that DAR is not maintainable as the driver was under the influence of alcohol at the relevant time as apparent from the MLC and the chargesheet wherein he was apart from section 279/304 A IPC also challaned u/s 185 of MV Act and so it denied its liability, as the offending vehicle was being driven contrary to the terms of the insurance policy.

The Ins. Co. also alleged that an accident had occurred when the victim along with one Arun Kumar was walking after dinner in the night on the road and as per the site plan, the place of the accident is shown in the middle of the road which itself is a negligent conduct and not as per traffic rules and therefore it is not liable to pay compensation.

In order to prove the claim, the petitioner widow of the deceased examined herself as the Prosecution witness and Arun Kumar Soni, an eye-witness and Mahesh Kumar, Administrative Officer, ICDPPG, Office of Commissioner Custom, Patparganj, Delhi as the Prosecution witness.