A Motor Vehicles Accident Tribunal in Thane district awarded a compensation of over Rs 56 lakh to the family of a policeman who died in a road accident in 2016.
The 47-year-old head constable attached to the Thane rural police was travelling on Mumbai-Nashik Highway when his police jeep rammed into a stationary trailer parked on the road in the dark.
MACT member R N Rokade ordered the two opponents the owner of the offending trailer and the insurer Reliance General Insurance Company to make the payment to the claimants with 7 per cent interest from the date on which the claim was filed.
The order issued on March 12 was made available on March 17.
Appearing for the deceased policeman's family, who are the claimants, advocate H P Patil told the tribunal that Pramod Nivtkar, was serving as a head constable with Vashind police station and earned a salary of Rs 46,682, and he was the sole bread winner in the family.
On December 28, 2016, the victim was travelling to work in a police jeep, when it rammed into a stationery trailer parked without any signals on the road, it was stated.
Nivtkar suffered severe injuries and died during treatment on the same day, the tribunal was informed.
The insurance company contested the case, while the trailer owner did not appear and the matter was decided exparte against him.
The tribunal in the order noted that the very act of parking a vehicle on road without reflectors is fraught with hazards.
Upon realisation of the compensation amount, the judge ordered that Rs 15 lakh each be invested in a nationalised bank in the name of the two children of the deceased, Rs 10 lakh in the name of his widow and Rs 5 lakh be paid to his elderly mother.
