E-Paper
Chandigarh: Kin of naval officer killed in road mishap awarded ₹1.2-crore compensation
Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh, rules in favour of his mother and brother of late Sub Lieutenant Atul Kumar Pawar
The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), Chandigarh, awarded compensation of ₹1.2 crore to the family of a navy sub lieutenant, who died in a road accident in 2017.
Sunita Pawar from Panchkula, mother of victim Atul Kumar Pawar, had filed a petition in the tribunal stating that her 24-year-old son was a sub lieutenant in the Indian navy and undergoing a course at INS Dronacharya in Kochi at the time of his death.
It was claimed that Atul was earning over ₹1 lakh per month. Another petitioner was his brother Pankaj Kumar Pawar.
The petition was filed against a resident of Kerala, Sidhant, who was driving the vehicle owned by Atul’s father Rajbir Singh Pawar. Rajbir has also been named in the petition as he was the vehicle owner. The third party is the car’s insurer Oriental Insurance Company Limited, Chandigarh.
As per the petition, Atul was on September 24, 2017, going in a car driven by Sidhant.
The car was being driven at a high speed, which led to the accident wherein Atul sustained fatal injuries. The naval officer took his last breath on September 28, 2017, and the autopsy report stated head injury as the cause of his death.
Atul’s family pleaded that their “future became bleak as they had no other source of income”.
While Sidhant stated that the accident had taken place because of the negligence of the driver of vehicle in front of their car, the insurance company sought dismissal of the petition.
After hearing the arguments, the tribunal on August 25 directed the three parties to pay a compensation of ₹1.2 crore along with at 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till realisation of the compensation.
It is pertinent to mention that the compensation is decided on the basis of a few criteria such as age and salary drawn by the victim.
