Road mishap case: Two brothers get Rs 2.2 Cr compensation

MACT Presiding Officer Anoop Kumar Mendiratta directed Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, with which the offending tanker was insured, to pay Rs 2,21,63,491 along with interest to Sandeep and Sumit Tomar, residents of Janakpuri in west Delhi, for death of their 47-year-old father Satyabir Singh Tomar in December 2004.

The tribunal held the driver of the rashly driven tanker responsible for the accident at Muzaffarnagar in UP leading to death of five persons, including the proprietor of Delhi-based M/s Tomar Construction Company Satyavir Singh Tomar.

"Considering the fact that negligence is to be assessed on touchstone of preponderance of probability and a holistic view is to be taken, it has been established that the accident was caused due to rash and negligent driving of tanker by its driver," the judge said.

The tribunal, while awarding compensation to the deceased man's two sons aged 21 and 18 years at the time of the mishap, noted that one of them was forced to settle back in India instead of continuing further education or temporary job at Australia.

"It is implicit that at the tender age of 18 and 21 years the petitioners (sons) hardly had any business experience to continue the business of contractorship carried by the deceased (father) which requires experience, expertise and contacts to carry on the projects," it said.

The accident took place on December 30, 2004 when Sandeep was travelling along with his father Satyabir, mother, sister and grandmother towards Shamli from Muzaffarnagar in UP in a Toyota Qualis which was driven by Ombeer Singh Tomar.

At around 9 PM, the car was hit by a rashly driven tanker coming from opposite side at Panipat Khatima Road, the plea said, adding that all the occupants suffered injuries.

While Sandeep had received grievous injuries, his mother, sister, grandmother and driver died on the spot and his father succumbed to injuries in the hospital.

The tribunal granted this compensation on the petition relating to death of their father as the pleas in relation to other deceased have already been decided earlier.

The petition said the driver of the offending vehicle had fled from the spot and an FIR was lodged in the case at a police station in Muzaffarnagar.

It said Satyabir was running business in the name of M/s Tomar Construction Company and had several big projects in hand at the time of accident and even government projects were undertaken in his firm's name.

His sons told the tribunal that due to the death of their father they suffered huge loss of income as they could not work upto the strength and quality of their father due to lack of foresight and experience.

The tanker's owner and driver claimed that the accident had taken place due to rash and negligent driving of the car driver as he was driving at a high speed on wrong side.

They also claimed that the compensation demanded by the petitioners was exorbitant and that the tanker driver had been falsely implicated in the case.