Kin awarded Rs 2.8 lakh, 29 years after man on bullock cart died in road accident

Thane, Nov 13 (PTI) A Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in Maharashtra’s Thane district has awarded a compensation of Rs 2.8 lakh to the family of a 66-year-old man killed in a road accident over 29 years ago.

A copy of the order dated November 6 by MACT Member P R Ashturkar was made available on Thursday.

Victim Bhau Valku Gaikar died on April 16, 1996, after a speeding dumper crashed into his bullock cart in the Ulhasnagar area.

While the tribunal held that the fatal accident occurred due to the negligence on the part of the dumper driver, it pulled up the victim’s family for not disclosing that the original claimant, Ramabai Bhau Gaikar, died in 2005.

The applicants did not even bother to inform that Ramabai had died, it said.

“Due to this negligence, the compensation will attract interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum only from the date of the judgment (November 6, 2025), instead of the date of the original application in 2001,” the tribunal said.

Advocates Pramod Patil, V B Patil and Arvind Tiwari represented the applicants, the dumper owner and the insurer, respectively. PTI COR NR