A Motor Accident Claims Tribunal has dismissed the compensation claim of Rs. 2.29 lakh with interest made by a policeman saying that he has not come before it with clean hands and his version is not trustworthy.
The 33-year-old claimant Shrikant Kamble had stated that he had suffered permanent partial disability to the extent of 35 percent due to an accident in Naigaon on June 4, 2014 in which the motorcycle he was on had skid and he had fallen. Kamble had suffered three fractures and said in his affidavit before the Tribunal that he had difficulty in climbing stairs, sitting cross-legged, walking long distances and in standing for long periods owing to the accident and that it had rendered him “totally dependent” on others.
Tribunal member Vilas P. Kadam said in his judgment that Kamble has failed to prove permanent partial disability. Under provision 163-A of the Motor Vehicles Act one is entitled to compensation when the accident leads to death or permanent partial disability. Member Kadam said that the treating doctor who deposed before it had said in his cross-examination that the injury is a “temporary occupational disability”. Kamble had taken out-patient treatment and the doctor had applied plaster to the injury for six weeks.
The tribunal also pointed out that there was a lapse of two months in intimating the police and that Kamble had not taken due care in intimating the police immediately even though he is in police service.
Member Kadam also questioned the contention of Kamble that he had difficulty in climbing stairs, standing for a long period and so on and asked how he had joined the police service by providing a fitness certificate. “Thus the version of the applicant is not trustworthy...definitely does not inspire my confidence,” member Kadam said.
It also said that the policeman “had not come before the court with clean hands”. He had said that his salary be considered as Rs. 3,000 monthly which comes to Rs. 36,000 annually. In the month of June 2014, Kamble’s salary slip showed that his salary was Rs. 20,438. The provision under which he had claimed compensation for injury was applicable to only those with annual income below Rs. 40,000. His salary is definitely above Rs. 40,000 annually, the tribunal said and remarked that he was in the police force and knowing that his annual income is above Rs. 40,000 he had still approached the forum.
