Thane: The motor accident claims tribunal (MACT) has directed a travel company and an insurance company to pay Rs 29.4 lakh to a 50-year-old woman who suffered serious injuries in a bus accident in south Mumbai in 2018. The insurer has been allowed to recover its share from the bus owner.
In 2017, the claimant and her friends hired a bus from a travel company to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Early next day, the driver lost control and crashed into a building’s gate. The woman underwent prolonged treatment. A criminal case was lodged against the driver. The woman sought compensation of nearly Rs 54 lakh under Motor Vehicles Act. She said at the time of accident, she was earning Rs 85,088 a month.
The case proceeded ex parte against the bus owner. The insurer said neither did the driver have a valid driving licence nor did the bus have a valid fitness certificate and route permit. The injuries did not cause permanent disability, it said.
A disability certificate indicated 30% permanent partial disability, but MACT slashed it to 20%, saying it was “in respect of a particular limb and joint only” and not the whole body. —Nishikant Karlikar
