Court seizes K’taka bus for not paying compensation to accident victim's family
The court held that the claimants were entitled to ₹2.15 crore along with an interest rate of 8 per cent per annum to be paid by NWKSRTC
A Karnataka court has seized a state bus for failing to pay ₹2.82 crore compensation to the family of an accident victim.
The court had ordered North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) to pay the amount to the family of Sanjeev M Patil, who died in 2013.
The family went to the court to seek compensation on the grounds that Patil was just 39 years old at the time of the accident and was earning ₹2.10 lakh per month at IBM. The family claimed compensation to the tune of ₹3.55 crore along with interest.
NWKRTC claimed the accident occurred due to Patil’s negligence. However, the court held the driver guilty of rash and negligent driving; it further said that a witness had also blamed the driver.
The court held that the claimants were entitled to ₹2.15 crore along with an interest rate of 8 per cent per annum to be paid by NWKSRTC.
The second additional senior civil judge at Davanagere said: “The court which went through the documents and salary slips came to a conclusion that Sanjeev Patil monthly income was ₹1,57,178 and deducting the personal expenses of Sanjeev Patil, it comes around ₹1,17,884. Taking account of the age, 15 multiplier was adopted and ₹2,12,19,120 on account loss of dependency and with 8 per cent annual interest from the date of the accident.”
Jagadeesh VS, divisional controller of NWKRTC’s Haveri division, the first respondent in the case, told The Indian Express: ”We have paid ₹1.52 crore compensation and had taken the case to the high court. However, there was no stay order which made the court officials seize the bus. We are asking the court to give us more time to pay the money as the corporation has also run into huge losses due to COVID situation.”
