On the directions of the Bombay high court in May, the tribunal recomputed compensation to be paid to the family
On July 3, 1994, Kavita, Suresh, their children Puja and Avinash, and relatives were travelling from Mumbai to Shirdi in a car when it collided head-on with a lorry near Vadapa village in Bhiwandi on Thane-Nashik Highway. Kavita and her sister Kanchan Melwani died. Suresh too suffered serious injuries. A police case was registered at Bhiwandi police station.
Mumbai: In one of the highest compensation amounts awarded in accidental death cases in the country, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) recently directed the insurer to pay around Rs 33.6 crore, including interest, to the family of a Dubai-based Indian interior designer, who died in a head-on collision on Thane-Nashik Highway 32 years ago. Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, which had insured both vehicles involved in the crash on July 3, 1994, has been directed to pay the amount to Kavita Sawlani’s husband Suresh, now aged 76, and children, now aged 47 and 46. The family had filed the claim on Dec 23, 1994, saying both drivers were negligent and that Kavita, an occupant of the car, had no role in causing the accident.
Oriental Insurance disputed negligence, income and dependency, and also claimed that the accident was beyond the control of the drivers.
The original tribunal, in June 2003, held that the accident resulted from rash and negligent driving and treated it as a case of composite negligence. The original award assessed Kavita’s annual income at Rs 70 lakh, based on evidence relating to professional work in Dubai, and awarded compensation of over Rs 5.5 crore. Revising the compensation to nearly Rs 8.8 crore, in an order pronounced on July 20, the MACT held that an interest of 9% per annum would run from Dec 23, 1994, the date of filing of the claim, until payment.
The tribunal further directed that the core of the payment be divided equally between Kavita’s two children.