Water tanker owner, driver told to pay Rs5m compensation to man disabled in road accident

A civil court has ordered the owner and driver of a water tanker to pay Rs5 million in compensation to a man who was left disabled after being run over by the vehicle six years ago.

Abbas Ali Shah filed a suit for the recovery of Rs15 million in damages from Zahid Ghulam Nabi, owner of the water tanker, and driver Fayyaz Shah under the Fatal Accidents Act.

Senior Civil Judge (South) Ghulam Abbas Memon observed that as per the record and evidence, the accident took place on January 18, 2018 due to negligence on the part of the defendants, which resulted in the death of a motorcycle rider, Kashan, and injuries to the plaintiff.

“It is well proposition of law that damages in fatal accident cases are usually awarded on the basis of present and expected earning capacity of the injured. The important considerations are age of injured, beneficiary and volume of personal expenses,” he noted.

The judge ruled that the plaintiff was entitled to compensation of Rs5 million on the account of general damages and loss of earning capacity with 10 per cent markup per annum from the date of the judgment till realisation of the amount.

Observing that the vehicle owner was equally responsible for the accident caused by the driver due to his negligent driving, he directed both the defendants to jointly deposit the decretal amount in favour of the plaintiff with the nazir of this court within the period of thirty days.

“Witness namely Arif Ahmed, investigation officer in crime No. 13/2018 [manslaughter case lodged against [driver] deposed that ‘during investigation, I verified driving license of accused Fayyaz from driving branch, according to which he was only allowed to drive car and motorcycle,” the judge said.

“He further deposed that ‘during my investigation, it came into my knowledge that the vehicle belonged to Zahid Ghulam Nabi and accused Fayyaz Shah admitted the accident but claimed that the same happened due to break failure.

Upon which I got inspected the vehicle from Motor Vehicle Inspector who opined that the Vehicle was fit and there was no case of breaks failure. According to my investigation, the accused hit his vehicle on the back side of motorcycle, the motorcyclist fell down and accused ran over about three motorcycle riders.”

“Such evidence on the part of witness/IO shows that defendant driver did not possess his valid license.”

The plaintiff’s lawyer Faraz Fahim contended that on January 18, 2018, the vehicle in question caused a fatal accident within the jurisdiction of the Tipu Sultan police station, due to which one person, Kashan, died and both legs of his client had to be amputated, rendering him disabled for life.

He said that the defendants with their collective negligence destroyed the happy family of the plaintiff, who had not married yet and was earning a very good livelihood with a monthly salary of Rs15,500. The plaintiff was just 20 years old at the time of the accident and was very healthy and wanted to marry and start a family of his own but due to the accident he could not marry now.