Thane, Jul 1 The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal in Maharashtra's Thane has awarded Rs 15.10 lakh compensation to the parents of an eight-month-old baby, who was crushed to death by a reversing truck in 2018, holding that a child cannot be categorised as a "non-earning individual" for calculating a payout.
In its order passed on Tuesday, MACT Chairman and Principal District Judge R D Sawant ordered truck owner Dinkar Mane and a private insurance company to jointly pay the compensation amount.
The incident had occurred on June 6, 2018 in Wagle Estate of Thane when the claimants, Mohammad Usman Mahibub Naik and his wife had gone to their relative's residence.
Their eight-month-old son, Sultan, was playing on a protected footpath when a truck reversed at a high speed and smashed into the iron bar compound wall. The force caused the wall to collapse directly onto the infant. Sultan sustained a traumatic brain injury and died on the spot.
A criminal case was subsequently registered against the truck driver.
The insurance company contested the claim, arguing that the infant and his parents were negligent in letting the child play on the footpath. It also claimed that the truck driver lacked a valid driving licence.
The tribunal, however, categorically dismissed these arguments, noting that the insurer failed to bring forward any evidence or examine any transport authorities or the driver to prove a breach of terms.
"Had there been no dash and the fall of the compound wall by the offending truck, the accident would not have taken place. Deceased was a minor child playing on the footpath," it said.
Though the parents had originally capped their valuation at Rs 1,00,000 for court fee stamp purposes while praying for just compensation, the tribunal emphasised its mandate to award fair compensation irrespective of the initial claim, relying on Supreme Court precedents.
"The assessment of damages to compensate the dependents is beset with difficulties. Because from the nature of things, it has to take into account many imponderables, e.g. the life expectancy of the deceased and the dependent, the amount that the deceased would have earned during the remainder of his life, the amount that he would have contributed to the dependents during that period...," it added.
Accepting a notional income of Rs 9,526 per month, adding 40 per cent for future prospects, and deducting half for personal expenses, the tribunal calculated the loss of future income using a multiplier of 18.
"A minor child who suffers death in accident, cannot be placed in the same category as a non-earning individual for the purposes of assessing the amount of compensation because the child was not engaged in gainful employment at the time of the accident. In such cases, the computation of compensation under the head of loss of income ought to be made by adopting, at the, very least, the minimum wages payable to skilled workman as notified for the relevant period in the respective state...," the tribunal said.
It ordered a total compensation of Rs 15,10,288.
