MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently rejected a petition submitted by a man seeking Rs 5 lakh compensation from the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) for the damage caused by a government bus to his house in an accident that took place in Thoothukudi in 2017.
Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan denied relief to the man, E Iyya Samy, as some of the facts relating to the accident were disputed by the TNSTC and a decision cannot be taken without considering the evidence. The petitioner has the liberty to approach the appropriate forum to seek compensation, the judge added, and dismissed the petition.
Samy owned a house on a three-cent land in Kovilpatti taluk of Thoothukudi. Around 8.30 am on August 18, 2017, a government bus belonging to Virudhunagar depot dashed against a private college bus and then against Samy's house, damaging the latter. Several passengers also sustained grievous injuries in the said accident, Samy claimed, and added that an FIR was registered against the government bus driver. Based on the same, Samy gave a representation seeking compensation.
However, the judge pointed out that though the accident happened between two buses and the petitioner's house got damaged in it, the compensation cannot be arrived at by merely assessing the damage caused to the house. Besides this, the TNSTC disputed the claim that the accident took place due to the negligence of their driver, the judge noted, and made the above decision.