Man who lost leg in road accident ordered Rs 75L compensation

A Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has ordered a private bus owner and an insurance firm to pay over Rs 75 lakh in compensation to a 42-year-old who had met with a road accident in Goregaon in 2016. Ajay Ahuja, then 37, had to undergo an emergency amputation of his right leg above the knee.

As per his claim petition for compensation, under the Motor Vehicles Act, filed before the tribunal a month after the mishap, Ahuja had told the tribunal that he was engaged in a transport business and was returning home around 9.45 pm on Oct 19, 2016, when the accident took place. He was proceeding on his scooter on the service road below Mrunaltai Gore Bridge in Goregaon (W) when a speeding private bus coming from the opposite side hit him. Ahuja's application said the bus driver could not control the vehicle due to its speed, causing him to sustain severe injuries. He was first taken to a trauma care centre in Jogeshwari and from there to a private hospital in Borivali. At this hospital, he was admitted for a week, after which he was shifted to another private hospital in Mira Road for better treatment. Here he underwent an emergency amputation. According to Ahuja, he spent Rs 10 lakh on treatment and claimed Rs 50 lakh in compensation.

Regarding the accident, an FIR was lodged at the Vanrai police station. The owner of the private bus – Aaron Travels – was served notice, but failed to combat the claim, the tribunal noted.

Meanwhile, the insurance firm – Bajaj Allianz General Insurance – denied the claim and said although the bus was insured by it, its driver did not hold a valid licence and hence there was a breach of its terms and conditions. It also denied negligence on the bus driver's part.

The man's application stated that the bus driver could not control the vehicle due to its speed, causing him to sustain severe injuries that resulted in the amputation of his leg

Among those who deposed before the tribunal were Ahuja himself, an assistant medical officer of the trauma care centre in Jogeshwari where he was taken immediately after the incident and a medical record officer of the Mira Road private hospital where he had undergone the amputation and was an indoor patient for about 10 days. The doctor who had issued a disability certificate to Ahuja, which showed that he had sustained 85 per cent permanent partial disability, had also testified.

Tribunal member Sanjay K Choudante stated in the judgment that the right leg of the claimant is amputated and it is sufficient to hold the loss of his earning capacity. The order held that the claimant sustained injuries in the mishap which was caused due to the negligence of the bus driver and that there was no negligence on the part of the claimant.