E-Paper
Chamba accident: 12 years on, MACT settles four claims by awarding ₹28.6 lakh as relief
At least 40 persons were travelling in a light commercial vehicle to Sherpur from Chowra village when their vehicle rolled down a 500-metre-deep gorge; 37 of them were killed, including driver Kamal Kishore alias Pinka of Bharog village of Chamba
The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), Chandigarh, has awarded ₹28.66 lakh as compensation to four petitioners who sought claims after a truck ferrying a marriage party had plunged into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district 12 years ago.
The accident had taken place on March 3, 2011. At least 40 persons were travelling in a light commercial vehicle to Sherpur from Chowra village when their vehicle rolled down a 500-metre-deep gorge.
Thirty-seven persons were killed, including driver Kamal Kishore alias Pinka of Bharog village of Chamba.
An FIR was, however, registered against the driver for rash and negligent driving.
Truck owner Ujjawal Kumar, also from Chamba, did not appear before court and was treated as ex parte. The insurance company claimed that they had issued a goods carrying vehicle package policy, but the truck was being used for ferrying passengers.
They also submitted that the deceased driver was not possessing a valid and effective driving licence at the time of accident and hence, there was a breach of insurance policy and they were not liable to indemnify the insured.
The counsel for the company further argued that the driver was found to be under influence at the time of the accident and his client cannot be held liable as the owner of the truck had violated the terms and conditions of the insurance policy.
The counsel for the claimants, Sunil Dixit, had examined six prosecution witnesses, including eyewitness Ravi Kumar, a friend of groom Ajay Kumar, who confirmed that the vehicle was being driven at a high speed and rashly. Ravi had also sustained injuries in the accident.
Dixit further argued that even if the driver was drunk and the vehicle was being driven over capacity, rights of the claimants were still intact to get compensation jointly or severally from the respondents.
The tribunal observed that the respondents couldn’t disprove Ravi’s presence at the spot and his testimony proved that the accident was caused by the rash driving of the driver.
The relief was calculated by taking the age and occupation of the deceased persons into consideration.
The court calculated that in the first claim application to be ₹6.08 lakh, ₹6.54 lakh for the second claim, ₹8.95 lakh for the third claim and ₹7.09 lakh for the fourth claim.
The tribunal ordered that the amount of compensation was to be firstly paid by the insurance company, thereafter they will be entitled to recover the same from the owner of the truck.
