In one of the biggest-ever compensation packages given to the family of a road accident victim, the State-run Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has settled a compensation claim of Rs 1.22 crore to the family of a marine engineer, who was killed in a road accident involving a State transport bus and a stationary truck in December 2014.
The MSRTC settled an accident claim for Rs 1,22,50,000 at a national Lok Adalat held at Thane on Saturday.
Sachin Ghanekar (33), a marine engineer working with M/s Jacob Engineering company, was knocked down by a MSRTC bus while he was walking on a road at Takka Naka in Panvel town of Raigad district in neighbouring coastal Konkan region on December 28, 2014. The mishap had taken place when he came in between a stationary truck and the MSRTC bus. Ghanekar succumbed to injuries at a local hospital.
Following the mishap, Ghanekar’s family had moved the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) at Thane and lodged a claim for Rs 2 crore on the ground that he was earning a monthly salary of Rs 99,380 and was the sole breadwinner of the family.
At the national Lok Adalat held in the presence of Principal District & Sessions Judge NR Borkar, MACT member DN Rokade handed over the settlement papers for for Rs 1,22,50,000 to the widow Bhakti Ghanekar, her daughter and parents of the victim.
The claimants in the case were victim’s wife Bhakti Ghanekar (31), daughter Akasha Ghanekar (9) and parents Ramchandra Ghanekar (64) Lata Ghanenkar (56).
While Advocate UR Vishwakarma appeared for the claimants, Advocate H P Patil represented MSRTC at the Lok Adalat.
In a similar case earlier, a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal at Madurai had in the first week of June 2016 awarded over Rs 1.2 crore to the family of a businessman T Prabhakaran who died in a road accident on August 30, 2012.
In that case, the tribunal presided over by Additional District Judge R Shanmuga Sundaram had directed the owner of a truck involved in the accident and the company with which it was insured to jointly pay Rs 1,20,44,500 along with interest at the rate of 7.5 per cent from the date of claim made in 2013.
The Judge made it clear that out of the total amount ordered by him, the claimant TN Rekha, wife of T. Prabhakaran, of Mahatma Gandhi Nagar in Madurai, who died at the age of 39, shall be entitled to Rs 46.32 lakh and their minor daughter to Rs 45.50 lakh.
Prabhakaran had been killed while travelling in a car with his friend, who was driving, from Madurai to Tiruchi.