Mumbai: Confirming that a surviving widow’s independent employment does not extinguish her status as a legal representative or her entitlement to compensation, in two separate orders recently, a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), awarded a total Rs 21 crore to the families of two senior Hindustan Unilever Ltd managers who lost their lives in the same Mumbai-Goa highway crash in 2018.This one of the highest compensation amounts awarded in accidental death cases in the state.Observing that the women’s earnings were substantially lower than their husbands’, the tribunal said, “Matrimonial households cannot be approached by assuming that each earning spouse exists in an economically watertight compartment. The deceased’s income necessarily contributed to the family’s standard of living, housing, education, savings and security.”In the first instance, the family of 43-year-old Girish Barve, a factory manager whose annual gross salary was Rs 95 lakh, was awarded a compensation of Rs 14 crore, including interest. His widow, earned a monthly salary of approximately Rs 42,000.In the second case, the dependents of 45-year-old Rakesh Wadalkar, who served as group safety, health, and environment operations manager and earned an annual gross income of Rs 42 lakh, were awarded a total compensation of Rs 7 crore, including interest. His wife was earning a monthly salary of Rs 80,000.In both instances, 40% of the compensation was awarded to the wives with the remaining divided between the children and parents of the deceased.The accident took place on July 1, 2018, on Mumbai-Goa National Highway-66 near Dabhil School in Khed taluka of Ratnagiri district. Barve was driving the car in which colleagues Wadalkar, Vishal Matle and Rajesh Joshi were travelling. A tanker, driven by Vaibhav Bhoyate and owned by Shreyash Transport, came from the opposite direction and collided head-on with the car.Barve, employed with the company for 20 years, suffered severe cranio-cerebral and other injuries and died on the spot. Wadalkar survived the initial impact and was taken for emergency treatment to BKL Walawalkar Hospital in Chiplun. He was shifted to Bombay Hospital on July 2, 2018, but succumbed to his injuries on July 11, 2018. He had been employed for around 15 years.The families filed separate compensation claims in December 2018. The tanker owner did not contest the proceedings, but the insurer disputed negligence, income, dependency, jurisdiction, non-joinder of the car’s owner and insurer, and the proposed quantum. The insurer also argued that the widows were not eyewitnesses and that the head-on collision suggested negligence by the car driver.The tribunal rejected the insurer’s challenge on negligence. “A head-on collision describes the geometry of impact; it does not automatically prove 50:50 negligence,” it said.The MACT relied on the police papers, spot panchanama, medical record, and chargesheet against the tanker driver. It noted that the final police report recorded that the road was straight, but the tanker had gone to the wrong side and collided with the car.In Wadalkar’s case, the tribunal made an additional finding that he was a passenger and could not be blamed for any alleged negligence of the car driver. “Wadalkar…was not driving either vehicle. There is not a scintilla of evidence that he exercised control over the car or himself committed an act contributing to the collision,” the MACT said.The insurer’s attempt to deduct employer-related payments was rejected in both cases. In Barve’s case, the insurer sought deduction of an alleged ex gratia payment of Rs 2.65 crore and accident policy benefits. “A bare entry described as ex gratia cannot justify deduction of such a substantial amount,” the tribunal said.In Wadalkar’s case, the insurer sought deduction of Rs 1.6 crore paid by the employer. However, the tribunal said it “cannot deduct Rs 1.6 crore merely upon conjecture, particularly where such deduction would, as the insurer submits, make the compensation ‘nil’ notwithstanding a proved wrongful death of a highly paid 45-year-old professional”.The MACT directed the insurer to deposit the award amounts with accrued interest and costs within eight weeks.
