Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court faulted the orders of the Sangareddy Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal that reduced the claim amount by attributing contributory negligence to a traveller who was sitting next to the driver of the car and was killed in a road accident in 2013.
A division bench comprising Justice P. Sam Koshy and Justice N. Tukaramji was hearing the petition filed by Arava Satyavathi who challenged the order of the tribunal that fixed the compensation at Rs 9 lakh but halved it on the ground of contributory negligence by her deceased husband, though he was not driving the car at the time of accident.
On May 20, 2013, the car in which Satyavathi’s 58-year-old husband Subba Rao was travelling, hit a parked truck at Sangareddy. He died in the accident. Her counsel explained to the court that it was the fault of the truck that it was parked in the middle of the road without indicator lights.
On other hand, insurance company counsel argued that the decision of the tribunal was right because the accident was caused by the driver of the car , there was ample space around the parked vehicle.
The court questioned how the insurance company attributed the contributory negligence to the passenger, where he did not make any mistake and was only sitting beside driver. The court pointed out the truck on the road did not have an indicator light. Considering the facts, the High Court directed the insurance company and others to pay the total insurance amount to Satyavathi.
