Mumbai: Consumer forum directs MSRDC, infra firm to pay victim Rs 1 lakh in damages

In 2016, More lodged a complaint against MSRDC and IRB before South Mumbai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. More alleged that both parties had been negligent in their services, being unable to prevent animals from entering the expressway, which is India’s first access-controlled express highway.

As evidence, More provided pictures of a broken fencing at a particular stretch of the expressway in Kamshet, from where he suspected the horse had entered.

However, the respondent parties dismissed More’s complaint as false and questioned whether the accident had even taken place. In its reply to the forum, the MSRDC stated that such a complaint had never been received despite thousands of vehicles using the expressway daily.

The MSRDC also disputed More’s version of events, stating that he could not prove having travelled on the expressway since he had not provided a copy of the toll receipt or specified the exact spot where the accident had taken place. In the event of an accident, the MSRDC stated, police and paramedics would have arrived at the spot within 15 to 20 minutes. The corporation also accused More of failing to inform the authorities about the mishap.

In its reply, the MSRDC also gave a detailed break-up of the number of accidents that have occurred on the stretch between 2006 and 2015, and their causes. The data showed that a vast majority of 16,044 accidents were attributed to human and mechanical errors while 38 had taken place due to “other reasons”.

The IRB, which initially did not reply to notices issued by the forum, stated in its reply that fencing prevents pedestrians and animals from entering the expressway and pleaded that More’s “baseless” complaint be dismissed.

However, a bench comprising forum president Sneha Mhatre, and members, D S Paradkar and M P Kasar, did not find merit in arguments put forth by the respondents that emergency phone numbers have been displayed throughout the expressway and were available to More. “…no one will be able to divert his mind to reading the hoardings on the roadside while driving at a high speed of 80 km per hour on the express highway, nor it is possible to memorise it while driving,” the forum observed in its order.

Ordering MSRDC and IRB to pay More Rs 1 lakh in financial and mental compensation and Rs 10,000 to cover litigation fee, the forum also observed that, “The complainant would have died during this accident if airbags would not have opened immediately. More, who is currently based in Sri Lanka, said he was satisfied by the order.