Karnataka high court awards higher compensation of Rs 51.6 lakh to family of deceased govt employee

Bengaluru: Placing reliance on spot sketch, the high court has not only negated the argument of contributory negligence put forth by the insurer of a Kerala-registered car, but also awarded a modified higher compensation of Rs 51.6 lakh to the family of the deceased govt employee who was killed in a road accident about 10 years ago.Shahabuddin Khan was working as a first division assistant in the revenue department. On Oct 10, 2016, he was proceeding from Bengaluru to Ooty on the Nanjangud-Gundlupet highway. A Kerala-registered car coming from Gundlupet towards Nanjangud dashed against their vehicle. Khan died of serious injuries. His 16-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son got injured. The wife, daughter and son of the deceased filed separate claim petitions.On June 23, 2023, the tribunal awarded Rs 41.5 lakh compensation to Khan's wife, Rs 4.7 lakh compensation to the son and Rs 3.5 lakh compensation to the daughter. The liability to pay the compensation was entirely saddled upon National Insurance Company Ltd, the insurer of the car.The insurer challenged the verdict. The insurer argued that contributory negligence on the part of the car in which deceased Shahabuddin was travelling was completely overlooked by the tribunal.On the other hand, the claimants argued that spot sketch indicates that Kerala-registered car had steered right and dashed against their car.The court was told that deceased Shahabuddin was earning Rs 2 lakh per annum military pension as he was an ex-serviceman and the same was not considered.After perusing the materials on record, a division bench comprising Justices SG Pandit and KV Aravind noted that at the spot of accident, the offending Kerala-registered car had 25 feet on its left, whereas the car in which the deceased and injured were travelling had only 15 feet on its left.Thus, it would be clear that the driver of the offending car was totally negligent and his negligence resulted in occurrence of the accident, the bench added.The division bench further pointed out that the military pension of the deceased was required to be considered, which the tribunal failed to do. Based on the said aspect, the bench awarded a higher compensation of Rs 51.6 lakh in the main claim petition. The daughter was awarded an enhanced compensation of Rs 3.9 lakh. There was no change effected in the compensation awarded to the son.
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