MACT gives Rs 79-lakh relief to cop’s family

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 26

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), Chandigarh, has directed an insurance company and the owner and the driver of a vehicle to pay Rs 79,84,204 compensation to the wife and four children of a person, who died in an accident three years ago.

The victim’s wife, Jaswinder Kaur, and children had filed a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicle Act seeking a compensation of Rs 80 lakh on account of death of Gurdhian Singh, a resident of Kami Kalan village, Rajpura tehsil, Patiala district.

In the petition filed through advocate MS Kamboj, Jaswinder said Gurdhian, who was serving in the Punjab Police, was deputed with the Delhi-Lahore bus service. He was performing his duties with a police vehicle escorting the bus service.

After performing his duties on February 11, 2019, Gurdhian was returning to Kami Kalan village on his scooter when a Bolero vehicle driven by Jasvir Singh (respondent No. 1) in a rash and negligent manner hit the two-wheeler. As a result, Gurdhian suffered serious injuries.

She said the accident took place due to rash and negligent driving by the Bolero driver. Gurdhian later succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

At the time of his death, Gurdhian was 50 years old and was serving in the Punjab Police as a Head Constable. He was drawing an approximate salary of Rs 56,505 per month. He was the only bread winner of his family and the petitioners were fully dependent upon his income.

Upon notice, the driver and the owner of the Bolero vehicle said allegations were false and frivolous. They claimed that the police had wrongly implicated the vehicle.

The petitioners, in collusion with the local police and other alleged witnesses of the case, got the vehicle of the respondents falsely implicated just to grab and extort money from the respondents. The insurance company also raised objections, saying the driver was driving a transport vehicle but was holding the driving licence of LMV only. The accident took place due to the negligence of the deceased. So, they were not liable to pay the compensation.

The MACT rejected the arguments of the respondents and awarded a compensation of Rs 79,84,204 to the claimants.

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