Min says no to 5cr for collegian in vegetative state: Rlys to HC

Mumbai: Bombay HC on Friday was informed that the railway minister has not accepted its request for paying a final claim settlement of Rs 5 crore to a 25-year-old who has been in a persistent vegetative state since an accident involving a car owned by Western Railway (WR) in Marine Drive on May 28, 2017.
Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna were submitted the April 30 affidavit of WR general manager Ashok Kumar Misra by senior advocate G S Hegde and advocate T J Pandian in respect of the minister's decision. "The proposal was put up before the cabinet minister. Somehow, they are not agreeable," said Hegde.

Nidhi Jethmalani (then 17) was on her way to K C College when she was knocked down by the WR car. HC was hearing appeals against motor accident claims tribunal's Feb 2021 order that awarded her nearly Rs 70 lakh compensation with interest and a Rs 1.5 crore corpus, whose interest would cover her future medical and other expenses. WR said the amounts were on the higher side. Nidhi, through her father, sought their enhancement.
On March 6, after HC suggested this is a fit case for settlement, Jethmalani's father, through advocate Saumen Vidyarthi, agreed to settle for Rs 5 crore, excluding amounts paid. HC "requested" WR officers "to take instructions at the highest level of the ministry"—the railway minister—"who in our opinion would graciously consider and sympathise in the gross facts of the case and take a decision, without this being treated as a precedent".
On April 3, HC was told that "the issue is under consideration'.' On April 25, after being told that "some opinions are being obtained", the judges again requested "the minister to take a decision as the appellant (Jethmalani) is suffering every day". Raising "serious doubt" that the minister was informed about HC's March 6 order, they directed the WR general manager or the competent officer of the ministry to file an affidavit stating when the file was placed before the minister.
Misra's affidavit said on March 24, he forwarded the case details and HC's March 6 order to the ministry, through the railway board, for obtaining the minister's decision on the "one-time settlement proposal". The board's executive director (establishment), Sunil Kumar, in an April 28 letter conveyed the minister's decision.
The judges noted that the letter records that the minister "after gracious consideration of the matter, with sympathies in the gross facts of the case, as also the aspect of feasibility of the same being not treated as a precedent, was pleased to pass the instructions as reproduced in the said letter". There were detailed instructions "by which the request which was made by this court in the peculiar facts of this case... has not been accepted". Also, prior opinion was taken from the ministry of law and judiciary "and it is in such context the opinion of the... railway minister was sought".
Therefore, the judges said that it would be "appropriate" that the file containing the "relevant proposal" be placed before the court on May 7. "We also know how to read files," remarked Justice Kulkarni.