Kin of road mishap victim awarded 16.63 lakh by MACT

New Delhi: The family of a photographer has been awarded a compensation of over Rs 16.63 lakh by a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) for his death in a road mishap involving the collision of his motorcycle with a truck, parked in the middle of the road.

The MACT asked Reliance Insurance Company, with which the offending vehicle was insured, to pay Rs 16,63,476 to the kin of 30-year-old victim Sonu, who had died on October 16, 2011 night after his bike collided with the wrongly-parked truck.

“In view of the unrebutted testimony of the petitioners (victim's family members) and documents available on record, it is prima facie proved that deceased Sonu died in a road accident due to rash and negligent act of wrong parking of the offending vehicle without observing proper safety measures by respondent no 1 (driver of vehicle),” MACT presiding officer Dinesh Bhat said.

The order came on the victim's family members' plea for compensation.

A police officer who was on patrolling duty in the area where the accident occurred and an eyewitness to the incident, had deposed that the truck was parked facing the wrong way and he had asked the driver to park it correctly, but the driver did not do so.

While he was speaking to the driver, the police officer had said he heard the “noise of an accident” and on checking found the victim lying unconscious on the road.

He had called for a PCR van, in which the victim was rushed to the hospital and the driver of the offending vehicle was arrested on the spot, the police officer had said.

Truck driver Jagdish had denied committing any negligence and had stated that the offending vehicle had to be stopped due to a break down on the road and he had taken proper precaution in this regard.

The driver had also said, the deceased was driving in a rash and negligent manner and had hit against the stationery vehicle, therefore, he himself was responsible for the accident in question