A Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in Maharashtra’s Thane district has awarded over Rs 12 lakh compensation to the family of a man who died in a road accident in 2015.
MACT member R N Rokade last week ordered the offending vehicle’s owner and its insurer, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited, to pay Rs 12.79 lakh to the family of Sheshamal Pawar.
The claimants, including Pawar’s wife and his parents, told the tribunal that Sheshamal, then 30 years old, worked as a labourer and earned Rs 10,000 per month.
Pawar was travelling in a van on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway on August 13, 2015. When the vehicle reached near Pelhar village, his mobile phone fell on the road, and as he got down to pick up his phone, the van’s driver reversed the vehicle, crushing him to death.
Later, a case was registered at the Waliv police station against the driver, the family told the tribunal, adding that Pawar was their sole earning member.
While the insurance firm contested the claim, the van’s owner did not appear before the tribunal, and hence, the matter was decided ex-parte against him.
MACT member Rokade said the claimants were entitled to recover the compensation amount from the opponents jointly and severally.
He ordered the insurance firm to deposit Rs 12,79,600 along with interest payable on it before the tribunal and recover it from the van owner by initiating appropriate legal proceedings.
