HC lets crash victim’s family use interest from 11cr payout

Ahmedabad: Twenty-one years after the death of an engineer in a road accident, the finances for further studies of his daughters abroad will be taken care of from the interest on the compensation amount deposited by the insurance company under the Gujarat high court's order.In this case, the 32-year-old engineer died on June 24, 2005, when his car rammed into a stationary truck on the highway between Viramgam and Sanand. After 17 years of legal battle, a Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) held the truck owner and its insurer, National Insurance Co Ltd, liable to compensate and fixed the compensation at Rs 4.5 crore with 9% interest. In fixing the compensation amount, the tribunal took into consideration that the deceased was an engineer who obtained his engineering degree from Pune University and an MS degree from Massachusetts University in the US. He was employed with Tyko International Company with an annual package of over Rs 34 lakh.However, the family did not get the amount, as the insurer and the truck owner appealed in the high court, which in 2022 ordered the deposit of the compensation amount with interest.More than two decades after the accident, the victim's widow and his two daughters filed an application requesting the high court to allow them to withdraw the interest on the compensation amount and the interest accrued to date so that the further studies of the daughters can be taken care of. The widow submitted that she and her family members took loans from relatives to support the daughters' studies, but if the HC permitted them to withdraw the interest amount, the family might not remain dependent on others.Upon query, the HC was informed that the total amount with interest at present is Rs 11 crore. The bench of Justice Sangeeta Vishen and Justice Nisha Thakore allowed the family's application and said, "Having regard to the averments made and the oral submissions, as also the documents produced together with the civil application, this court is of the opinion that the applicant nos. 2 and 3 (daughters) are growing adults and, for their education and other needs, expenses are to be incurred. In the interest of justice, the civil application deserves to be partly allowed, permitting the applicants to receive periodical interest from the date of this order."