With the compensation claims hitting the KSRTC coffers hard, the state government is planning to augment the transport corporation’s legal counsel system.
The body would be entrusted with the duty of competently monitoring the cases and compensation suites filed against the KSRTC. “The KSRTC is facing huge losses by way of compensation claims whenever a case is lost. Since there is no proper body to monitor the cases, there are even instances of compensating a petitioner twice,” said Aryadan Mohammed, Minster for Transport.
A monthly meeting of the DTO, ATO, standing counsel and the inspectors of the depots concerned should be convened to discuss the pending and completed cases. The Minister urged the KSRTC pleaders to be more vigilant in their duty.
“There have been frequent instances of the KSRTC losing the cases in the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. The lawyers fail to present the cases competently. An indifferent attitude on their part makes it impossible to win the cases and there is a general misconception that the KSRTC buses are increasingly involved in accidents owing to their huge size,” a KSRTC official said. The advocates fail to make an effort in visiting the accident sites, he alleged. The KSRTC guidelines mandate that the appointed advocate and the KSRTC inspectors should visit the accident site. “The failure to do so is creating a lot of discrepancies and we are not able to present our cases properly,” said a top KSRTC official.
Meanwhile, there are allegations that the petitioners sometimes bribe the police to register a case against the KSRTC even though they are not at fault.
“There are many petitions where our drivers are at fault and we are willing to pay for it. But at least 90 per cent of the accidents are because of the negligence of the other party,” the official said.
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