A Motor Accident Claims Tribunal has held both the original owner and a subsequent purchaser of an uninsured vehicle involved in road mishap liable to pay compensation to the mishap victim.
MACT Presiding Officer B S Chumbak held both the original owner, in whose name the vehicle was registered and its “new bonafide purchaser’ liable to pay compensation while asking them to pay nearly Rs 3.5 lakh to an East Delhi woman injured in the accident involving the uninsured vehicle.
“Admittedly the offending vehicle was not insured, therefore, Singh being the registered owner of the offending vehicle and Gupta being the bonafide purchaser of offending vehicle shall be liable to make the payment of compensation to petitioner (Pushpa Rani).
In case of an insured vehicles involved in mishap, the compensation is paid by the insurance firm.
The MACT ordered West Delhi residents Gurmeet Singh and Brij Nandan Gupta, the former and new owners respectively of the offending vehicle to pay the compensation.
The MACT order came on the plea for compensation by Karkardooma resident Pushpa Rani, who said she met the mishap on June 8, 2010, while returning home from a neighbourhood clinic in a cycle rickshaw, which was hit by a rashly-driven SUV Tavera.
Due to the impact, the rickshaw turned turtle and she fell off it and was rushed to a hospital where she was diagnosed to have sustained multiple fractures in the mishap.
During adjudication of Pushpa’s plea for compensation, Gupta had told the tribunal that he had bought the vehicle from Singh, who was still its registered owner.
He had added that he was driving the vehicle on the day of the accident and that the rickshaw puller had erroneously crossed the road during a red traffic light, leading to the collision. But the tribunal rejected his argument.
