Mumbai: In a ruling aimed at providing “just compensation” for life-altering injuries, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) ordered the owner of a school bus and Reliance General Insurance to pay a total payout of Rs 2.12 crore (this amount includes interest) to a 44-year-old teacher left bedridden after a 2022 road accident. The victim, Shital Salunke, once an active teacher earning an annual salary of over Rs 11 lakh, is now unable to speak or perform daily activities independently. The tribunal noted the severity of the neurological damage. “The physical disablement assessed… is permanent in nature and will not reduce over the period of time,” the tribunal observed, citing medical evidence that Salunke suffers from aphasia (loss of speech) and right-hand weakness.Salunke moved the tribunal through her husband in Dec 2022. The victim worked at the school in Bhandup. On the morning of June 10, 2022, while riding her scooter with “due care and caution” on LBS Road in Mulund, a school bus belonging to Golden Travels, driven in a “rash and negligent manner”, struck her vehicle. The impact was so severe that Salunke sustained a traumatic head injury, a temporal burst lobe, and multiple fractures. The bus driver fled the scene immediately after the collision. Salunke spent a lot of time in hospital and spent around Rs 25 lakh. “She is totally dependent on the help of her caretaker. She is having unbearable pain and sufferings. Her expectation of life has been shortened and adversely affected. She had to bear huge medical expenditure for her treatment and is still undergoing treatment,” her claim said.During the proceedings, the insurance company attempted to argue that Salunke was partially responsible for the accident and that her disability might be treatable through speech therapy. However, the tribunal rejected these claims. Referring to the teacher’s inability to return to her profession, the tribunal stated, “Although the permanent disablement suffered by the claimant is ascertained as 60%, there is total disablement with regard to her occupation as she will not be able to work as a teacher at any point of time in future.”A key point involved medical expenses already covered by Salunke’s private Mediclaim policy. The insurer argued these should be deducted from the award. The Judge firmly disagreed, citing established High Court precedents: “The claimant is entitled to the entire medical expenditure incurred for treatment even though a certain amount was covered under the Mediclaim policy.” The final award includes loss of future earnings, alongside compensation for pain, suffering, and medical bills. The tribunal ordered the owner and the insurer to pay the amount jointly and severally.
