A 36-year-old widower and his two minor children have been awarded a compensation of Rs 11.49 lakhs by Thane’s Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) for the death of his wife in a road accident in 2010.

The widower, Vikas Shreedhar Patil, informed the tribunal that on September 19, 2010, he along with his wife Kavita (32) was travelling on a scooty on Palm Beach Road at Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai when a car coming from behind knocked down their two-wheeler.

As a result, Vikas and his wife, who was pillion riding, fell down. While Vikas received injuries, his wife died on the spot, he said, adding that the deceased worked as collection agent with Vaibhav Co-operative Credit society at Ghansoli and earned Rs 6,000 per month.

In his application, he also stated that the accident was the result of rash and negligent driving of the car driver and hence, he claimed a compensation of Rs seven lakhs.

Car owner Premkumar Soni and the New India Assurance Company challenged the age and service of the deceased and also claimed that the accident was on account of sole negligence of the scooty driver and sought the application to be dismissed.

MACT member Judge K D Vadane observed that the copy of FIR shows that offence for rash and negligent driving was registered against the car driver at Rabale police station.

The spot panchanama also showed that the car made a dash on the back side of the scooty and its rear portion was damaged.

“Thus, the contention of the applicants is corroborated by the police papers on record. Therefore, in the absence of any rebuttal evidence, I have no hesitation to accept the contention of the applicants and come to the conclusion that the impugned accident occurred due to sole negligence on the part of the car driver,” the judge noted.

In what could further widen the chasm between allies Shiv Sena and BJP, Sena leader Sanjay Raut rued that though his party is in power, the government is not theirs and they are not part of the decision-making process.

He also hit out at Devendra Fadnavis following the alleged suicide by a Latur girl over poverty, saying the Chief Minister should have a hold over the administration.

Raut was speaking to media last evening after paying a visit to the family of 16-year old Swati Pitale, who committed suicide due to extreme poverty at a village in Latur.

“This is the party’s stand. Sanjay Raut and the party are no different. This is very disturbing. This (the suicide) is not something that makes seem a progressive Maharashtra in good light,” the Sena leader said.

“We are in the government, but the government is not ours. Several important portfolios that are involved in the decision making process for the state are not with the Sena,” he rued.

However, justifying the party being part of the government despite being sidelined, he said, “We fought against Congress and NCP, and because we did not want either of the parties to get another chance (to form the government). We are trying to save the government.”

Raut said that those (BJP) controlling portfolios like Revenue, Home, Finance, Agriculture, Education, Social Justice are running the government.

“If the previous government was doing good work, they would not have been voted out of power. We feel that this government needs to be saved.

“What is important is that how are the masses taking in whatever is happening. Work can be done in a far better way.

Sena has the most experience of running the state,” he said.

In the wake of suicide by a girl who could not attend classes as she could not afford bus pass fee, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has decided to waive the fee completely for the students of first-year junior college and above in the eight drought- affected districts of Marathwada.

Transport minister Diwakar Raote said the scheme will benefit 4.60 lakh students. It would be named ‘Swati Abhay Yojana’ after Swati Pitale, the first-year junior college (FYJC) student from Latur who committed suicide earlier this month.

Pitale had mentioned in her suicide note that she didn’t have Rs 260 for the ST pass as her indebted father, a farmer, was in dire straits.

Raote said he would put the proposal for waiver before the state cabinet tomorrow.

“As per the MSRTC policy, it already subsidises two-third of the pass amount while the student has to pay the balance.

But taking serious note of the suicide, to ensure that other students in distress do not take recourse to such extreme step, the MSRTC has decided to waive the one-third pass fee component too,” Raote said.

Despite the losses which State Transport (ST) was incurring, it has decided to bear the additional burden of Rs 9.18 crore, said Raote, who belongs to Shiv Sena.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had asked him what steps he was taking in the light of an editorial in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ which severely criticised the BJP-led government over the girl’s suicide.

Raote said that he had apprised the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of his decision.

About 1.50 crore students all over the state avail of ST concession passes.

Keeping in view guidelines of the Centre, the Maharashtra government has decided to increase the festival advance of non-gazetted employees to Rs. 10,000.

The advance, which was earlier Rs. 5,000, will cover nine major festivals – Diwali, Ramzan Id, Christmas, Parsi New Year, Rosh Hoshnaa (Jewish new year), Buddha Jayanti, Independence Day, Republic Day and Sanvatsari (last day of Jain’s ‘Paryushan).

“Non-gazetted state government employees will now get festival advance of Rs. 10,000 for nine major festivals. The limit earlier was Rs. 5,000. Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has taken this decision keeping the guidelines of the Central government in mind,” an official from the state finance department said.

A Government Resolution (GR) in this regard has also been issued by the finance department on October 18.

“As per the GR, non-gazetted state government employees having pay band of Rs. 4,800 or less will get this benefit,” the official said.

Courts should stick to their traditional role of “interpreting” the law and not “overstepping” it, former Supreme Court Judge (retired) B N Srikrishna said.

“It is for the Parliament or the Legislative Assembly to make laws and for the executive to implement it. However, the court must perform their traditional role of interpreting the law and not overstepping it,” Justice Srikrishna said at a seminar on Judicial activism, according to a release here.

The seminar was held at Indian Merchants Chamber here yesterday.

Other speakers included eminent lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, Partner of a solicitor firm D M Popat and former bureaucrat Subodh Kumar. Maneck Davar, publisher and legal expert, moderated the discussion.

Suggesting that judicial initiatives had their roots in history, Popat said judicial activism was good, but suffered from its own drawbacks.

“Today, the drawbacks have become more burdensome,” he said, adding that certain elements seek to misuse the judicial process and waste precious time of courts.

Jethmalani stoutly defended judicial activism in its present form. He said whenever there is inaction by the executive or the legislature or occasionally excess action, the courts are forced to intervene to normalise the situation.

“Judicial activism has helped improve peoples’ lives by giving directions on issues such as ‘pollution and roads’ and so on,” he remarked.

The Bombay High Court directed the Western Railway to bear the medical expenses of a one-month old child who was found abandoned in a train at Virar railway station two days back.

The direction was given by a bench of Justices V M Kanade and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi which was hearing a public interest litigation filed by an activist Samir Zaveri.

Zaveri, who himself lost his legs in a railway accident, had prayed in the petition to direct the authorities to set up medical centres at suburban stations.

Today, when the matter was being heard, he raised the issue of a baby boy being abandoned in a train. He said the news had appeared in a leading tabloid along with photograph of the baby. The report also said that a private hospital had refused to admit the boy fearing that the Railways would not foot out the medical bill.

The bench thereupon directed the Railway authorities to bear the expenses of treatment of the abandoned child.

The Judges were of the view that the Railways should bear the medical expenses not only of the injured victims but also of the children found abandoned in the premises.

Hearing Zaveri’s petition earlier, the Railways had set up emergency medical centres at 15 suburban stations.

Maharashtra government had also stationed ambulances at 46 stations to handle accident cases and ferry victims to the nearest hospital.

The court had also directed the government to ensure that the doctors who sit in the ambulance outside the station are trained to handle emergency situations and the equipments in the ambulance.