Tanker owner, driver in Karachi ordered to pay accident victim Rs5m in compensation

KARACHI: A senior civil judge ordered the owner of a water tanker and the driver to pay a Rs5 million in compensation to an accident victim, who lost both his legs in 2018 due to the driver’s rash and negligent driving.

The plaintiff, Abbas Ali Shah, who got injured in the accident, had filed a suit under the relevant section of the Civil Procedure Code through his counsel before Senior Civil Judge (South) Ghulam Abbas Memon, seeking damages of Rs15 million from the defendants — owner of water tanker Zahid Ghulam Nabi and driver Fayyaz Shah.

After hearing and recording the evidence, the court directed the owner of the water tanker and the driver to pay Rs5m with a 10 per cent markup per annum in damages and loss to the plaintiff within 30 days.

“The undisputed record and evidence of parties conclude that due to negligence act on the part of defendants, the incident took place [on] 18.01.2018 resulting into death of one Kashan and injured the plaintiff. It is well position 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,” the court noted.

During the arguments, the defendant’s counsel took the plea that the FIR was registered against an unknown driver and vehicle as the client denied giving a bribe to them over a dispute of monthly bribe and that the police had falsely implicated him in this case. He also claimed that he (driver) possessed a valid driving licence.

The counsel blamed the plaintiff for negligence on his side for not wearing a helmet while riding his motorbike on the day of the accident that took place at Sharea Faisal where heavy traffic is always available.

However, the court rejected their pleas and noted that the investigation officer of the case informed the court that when the driver was arrested he claimed that the breaks of the tanker were failed.

However, the IO stated that the forensic report revealed that the breaks were not failed.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2024