Transport Body Asked To Pay 37 Lakh To Boy As Accident Leaves His Hand Crippled

Accepting a nine-year-old boy's contention that he sustained `permanent disability' after being hit by a state-run bus in 2019, a Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal in Maharashtra's Latur has directed the MSRTC and the driver to pay him a compensation of about Rs 37 lakh.

The boy, then three years old, was crossing the road with his sister when he was hit by a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation bus at Pimpri-Amba village on May 28, 2019.

In a plea filed before the MACT in January 2023, the minor claimed the bus was driven in a "rash and negligent" manner, and sought compensation from the MSRTC as well as the offending driver under the Motor Vehicles Act.

He lost all sensation in his right hand due to the accident, thus suffering a 100 percent permanent disability, it said.

"The boy was three-year-old at the time....He belongs to an upper-middle class family. He would have gone to good school and taken education and earn handsome salary or income in future. Due to the accident he is unable to do any work with his right hand," the plea said, demanding compensation of more than Rs 35 lakh.

The MSRTC as well as the bus driver denied before the tribunal that the accident took place due to rash driving.

Principal District Judge and MACT (Latur) Member V V Patil in an order passed earlier this month cited the police investigation and charge-sheet against the driver as "sufficient proof to infer the rash and negligent act on his part".

The driver appears to have started the bus without realising that a child was in front of the vehicle, the tribunal said.

Upon inspecting the boy, the tribunal noticed that the right hand was completely damaged.

"Thus, I hold that the applicant has sustained permanent disability. Though the doctor (examined by the tribunal) has assessed disability at 80.25 per cent, as the applicant will be unable to do any work in future for his livelihood, I assessed his permanent disability as 100 per cent," the MACT member added.

The tribunal ruled that the boy was entitled to a total compensation of Rs 36,37,200 and interest of 7.5 per cent per annum from the date of filing of claim petition. The MSRTC and driver were directed to jointly pay the amount.

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