Mumbai: MACT orders bus owner to pay Rs. 49 lakhs to kin of hospital caretaker who died in road accident

A Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has ordered the owner of a luxury bus to pay over Rs. 49 lakhs in compensation to the kin of a civic-run hospital’s caretaker, who died after the motorcycle on which she was riding pillion, with her husband was hit by the rashly driven bus near Chunabhatti in 2014.

The accident had taken place on Nov 20, 2014, around 10 pm. As per the petition for compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act filed by the husband and son of the deceased Ranjana Kute, the couple was near the Priyadarshini Circle Bus Stop on Panvel Sion highway at Chunabhatti, when the rashly driven bus hit them.

Kute fell due to the impact and the bus ran over her head. She was rushed to Sion Hospital but was declared dead before admission.

The Tribunal exonerated the insurance firm of the bus from paying half of the compensation amount as the driving license of the bus driver had expired a day before the mishap.

The driver Javed Akhar’s license was valid till Nov 19, 2014, and the accident had taken place the next day. It noted that the bus owner was served notice through a publication but chose to remain absent during trial.

Tribunal member KR Joglekar said in the order that there is a willful breach on the part of the owner of the offending vehicle, that is, knowing well of the expiry of the driving license of the driver on Nov 19, 2014, he allowed the driver to drive the vehicle on Nov 20, 2014.

MACT said that the insurance company needs to be exonerated from the liability. It however directed that the insurance company must pay the entire compensation, keeping it open to it, to recover the same from the bus owner.