Compensation for siblings who lost father

The compensation is to be paid by M/s Venco Research and Breeding Farm Limited,Anna Kundlik Kale,driver with Venco company,New India Assurance Company Limited and Manohar Mitthu Yadav collectively.

The siblings’ grandmother Rajabai Jalindar Dalal (65) had moved the tribunal in March 2009 after Vikas Jalindar Dalal,38,a furniture maker with a private firm died after the car he was travelling in crashed after being hit by a tempo on August 10,2008.

The compensation claim mentioned that he earned Rs 3,000 per month and that the childrens’ mother had died a few years ago.

The tempo belonging to Venco Limited,was being driven by Kale and was insured by New India Assurance,while the car in which he was travelling was driven by Yadav.

In reply to the petition,Kale and Yadav denied that Dalal and the two minor children were dependent on the deceased.

He also claimed that while Kale was driving the tempo at moderate speed observing all traffic rules,it was Yadav who was driving the car at a high speed and hence lost control of his car and consequently crashed into the tempo. Venco Limited,through its lawyer O D Bhorkar also requested to dismiss the claim.

On inspection of the spot panchnama and the FIR,the court concluded that the accident was caused due to negligence on part of both the drivers — Kale and Yadav.

“The annual income of the deceased works out to be Rs 36,000 . After deducing one-third amount towards the deceased’s own expenses,the amount comes to Rs 24,000. Considering the age of the deceased,a proper multiplier to calculate the annual loss of dependency would be 15. Hence,the total amount works out to be Rs 3.60 lakh,” the court observed adding that the minor children and the grandmother are entitled to Rs 4,000 as compensation.

The court,in its judgment directed Kale,Venco Limited and the insurance company to pay Rs 1.85 lakh jointly with 7.5 per cent interest from 2009 and Yadav to pay Rs 1.85 lakh with 7.5 per cent interest from 2009.

The court has further directed Kale,Venco Limited and New India Assurance each to deposit Rs 1.25 lakh in the name of the two minors in any nationalised bank under the guardianship of their grandmother Rajabai Dalal.