CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has lambasted a judge heading Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal in Coimbatore for awarding a huge sum as compensation to the family of a doctor who was killed in a road accident in in 2012. The high court reduced the compensation from Rs2.07 core to just Rs78 lakh, and said that the tribunal had awarded the compensation even in absence of an income certificate of the deceased doctor.
The presiding officer of the tribunal R Venkatasubramanian has awarded the huge compensation without any rhyme or reason, observed the division bench. He had awarded Rs1.82 crore for the loss of dependency, Rs15 lakh for loss of love and affection, and Rs10 lakh for loss of consortium.
“In fact, he has crossed the limits, which all High Courts in India and the Supreme Court would normally used to award... we are really shocked by the fixation of huge compensation... we never come across any motor accident cases, where, the presiding officer awarded such huge compensation magnanimously,” the bench comprising justices MM Sundresh and Krishnan Ramaswamy observed. The huge award, it appears, was not due to mercy or out of the benevolence on the part of the presiding officer. It has, rather, affected the credibility bestowed on him, the judges said and directed the Registrar-General to keep this order along with his Annual Credit Report (ACR).