New Delhi: A Delhi court has awarded a
compensation of over Rs 37 lakh to the family of a 42-year-old
civil engineer who was crushed to death by a speeding truck
here in 2006.
Motor Accident Claim Tribunal Judge Ashwani Sarpal
awarded the damages to Rakesh Kaul`s kin, taking serious note
of the failure of the driver and owner of the truck to appear
before the tribunal during adjudication of the case.
"The conduct of the driver and owner of the vehicle
absenting from the court, non-leading of their evidence etc
sufficiently prove that allegations levelled by petitioners
(family members of the deceased) against them are correct,"
the court said while awarding a total compensation of
Rs37,23,784 to the victim`s family.
The court directed the insurance company to pay the
compensation and recover the amount from the driver and owner
of the vehicle.
"I am of the view that the insurance company must pay
the compensation at the first instance and then it can be
given recovery rights to get the compensation amount recovered
from the driver and the owner of the offending truck," the
court said.
Kaul, working as a civil engineer with a private firm,
M/s Diva Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd, died on November 6, 2006
after his scooter was hit by the truck (HR-46B-3321) near
Mangolpuri chowk here.
Police rushed Rakesh to a hospital, where he was
declared brought dead.
During adjudication of the claim for compensation,
medical reports corroborated that he died due to injuries
sustained during the accident.
"MLC and postmortem reports of the deceased confirm
that death was immediate and took place due to the road
accident," the court noted.
The driver and owner of the vehicle, in their written
statement, claimed that the accident happened due to
negligence of Kaul as he ignored the continuous blowing of
horn by the truck driver.
The court trashed their contention saying, "Simply
this fact, which otherwise is not proved, that horn was not
listened to by the deceased is not sufficient to exonerate the
driver of the offending truck from his negligence and
rashness."
An FIR in the case was registered at the instance of a
police official who was present on duty near the accident
spot.
PTI
