HC refuses to stay Rs 14.7 cr accident award

The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to stay the compensation award of Rs 14.17 crore (Rs 141.7 million), one of the highest ever by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, to the family of a rich businessman who died after his car collided with a punctured vehicle stranded in the middle of a highway.

Justice O P Dwivedi issued notice to the family members of the victim Rajneesh Kumar Goel, a resident of West Delhi, on a petition filed by Oriental Insurance Company seeking to set aside the MACT award and fixed the matter for July 11.

Meanwhile, the court directed the insurance company to deposit 50 per cent of the amount within four weeks to the MACT asking the tribunal to release 10 per cent of it to the victim's family subject to security.

The court said balance has to be deposited by way of FDR as per the tribunal's order.

MACT in a landmark ruling last month had directed the Oriental Insurance Company to pay the whopping amount saying the compensation amount was arrived at calculating the income of the deceased "who was earning crores of rupees from investments, rent, business of paper and exports."

On the night of August 28, 2000, Goel was driving his family in a car from Delhi towards Karnal via a non-lit section of G T Karnal road when it dashed against a Tata Sumo, parked on the central verge of the highway without its indicators on.

Noting that 39-year-old Goel's annual income was over Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million), out of which he spent about Rs 1.41 crore (Rs 14.1 million) on his family, tribunal judge Girish Kathpalia had justified the huge compensation and said "the compensation must neither be a pittance nor a bonanza."