The Calcutta High Court (HC) yesterday directed an insurance company to pay an additional sum of Rs 6.37 lakh to the family of the victim of a road accident, modifying an earlier order of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal that had fixed a compensation of Rs 3 lakh.
Justice Rabindranath Samanta directed Oriental Insurance Company to also pay 6 per cent interest on the additional amount from the date of filing of the claim application as well as on the original compensation amount from June 27, 2000, till its full realisation.
The court also instructed the insurance company to deposit the newly awarded amount of Rs 6,37,200 and the interest component by cheque with the HC registrar general within five weeks from the date.
It said the registrar general would release that amount to the claimants in equal shares as expeditiously as possible.
Earlier, Arati Mondal, the mother of deceased Gopal Mondal, claimed before the tribunal that her 24-year-old son, a bus driver, had died in an accident near Thakurpukur in South 24-Parganas district on April 28, 2000. The tribunal awarded a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to the mother of the unmarried victim in June 2004.
Later, the mother moved the HC claiming that the compensation awarded was inadequate. Arati Mondal died during the pendency of the appeal and was substituted by her husband and daughter in her place.