The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), Thane has directed Thane Municipal Transport Undertaking (TMTU) to pay a sum of Rs 39.43 lakh in compensation to the family of a machine operator, Jitendra Salunke, who died in August 2014 after being allegedly run over by a bus that belongs to the civic undertaking. The compensation amount includes the payment of Rs 1 lakh for the minor child of the deceased owing to the “loss of love, care and guidance” he suffered because of having lost his father, the family’s sole breadwinner. The compensation was determined in accordance to the ratio laid down according to an earlier Supreme Court order.
Salunke’s wife, his 17-year-old son and his parents had moved MACT seeking compensation of Rs 50 lakh from TMTU. Salunke had died in a road accident on August 1, 2014, after being allegedly hit by a TMTU bus when he was waiting for an auto-rickshaw to reach home.
The family, while seeking a compensation amount of Rs 50 lakh, had claimed that the accident happened because of the negligence of the driver alone and TMTU is hence supposed to pay compensation.
Advocate P.M. Tillu had argued on behalf of the family that at the time of the accident, the age of the deceased was 45 years and he was serving as a machine operator in a private company, earning a monthly salary of more than Rs 25,000.
On the other hand, TMTU’s lawyer argued, “There was a fight going on between two persons and one of them came running and jumped before the moving bus, coming under the left rear tyre and sustaining an injury to his head in an attempt to commit suicide.” The undertaking’s lawyer further claimed that there was no negligence on the part of the driver of the bus and “the deceased himself was careless, due to which he sustained the injury that caused his death.”
MACT, Thane, though, said that the undertaking’s claim that the victim had committed suicide is not believable.
