District Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has ordered Thane Municipal Corporation to pay a compensation of Rs 6.61 lakh to a woman who lost her husband during treatment after a road accident involving a civic bus in 2012
Thane: District Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has ordered Thane Municipal Corporation to pay a compensation of Rs 6.61 lakh to a woman who lost her husband during treatment after a road accident involving a civic bus in 2012.
Additional Sessions Judge and MACT member K D Vadane in his judgement pronounced recently ordered TMC to pay the amount to Vasanti Joshi (62) and her daughter Kirti (35) even as he held the deceased equally responsible for the mishap that occurred on November 9, 2012.
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Due to contributory negligence of the deceased, the compensation amount was cut by half from Rs 13.23 lakh, the Judge said.
According to the claimant council, the original claim was filed by Satish Joshi (63 then), who had stated in his application that he was crossing road in Naupada area here when a TMC-run Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) bus rammed into him, injuring him grievously.
Joshi underwent treatment at a hospital and died in March, 2013, during the pendency of the claim. He worked as a broker and priest and earned an income of Rs 12,000 per month.
Later, his wife and daughter were made the applicants in the case. They stated before the tribunal that they they spent nearly Rs 8 lakh on Joshi's treatment.
In support of their claim, they produced the FIR and other relevant documents and evidence of the examination by doctors during the deceased's hospitalisation. The TMC was represented by advocate S E Darandale, who contested the claim and challenged the income and age of the deceased.
The respondent dismissed the claim and said that it was due to the sole negligence of the deceased that he sustained injuries and later died. Darandale said Joshi was suffering from Parkinson's disease and also was paralytic and was limping at the time of the accident. The deceased fell before the bus while crossing the road.
In support of their claim, the respondent citied several rulings and challenged the accident and examined the driver and conductor of the bus. The claimant council examined shopkeepers near the mishap spot.
The Judge after hearing both the parties, concluded that it was a contributory negligence to the extent of 50 per cent of the deceased which resulted in the accident. "It has come in the course of cross examination of Vasanti Joshi that there was no zebra crossing at the spot of accident. This implicitly shows that the deceased was crossing the road from the place where there was no zebra crossing.
Moreover, it has come in the evidence that the deceased was suffering from Parkinsons prior to the accident, therefore, he was limping while walking," the Judge observed.
"From the contents of the FIR it is clear that there was a dash given by the impugned TMT bus to the deceased. Thus, it appears that driver of bus has also not made any attempt to avoid the accident," the Judge said.
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