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Municipal Corporation of Delhi vs. Sunny Makkar and Ors.

Motor Accident Claims Appeal · 2026:DHC:7847Decided 15 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
MAC.APP. 246/2026CNR: DLHC010150892026
Justice Anish Dayal

Background

In 2018, a woman was fatally run over by an MCD garbage truck while walking with her sister-in-law near a market in Subhash Nagar, Delhi; the truck driver fled the scene, and a criminal case was registered. The Tribunal awarded the deceased's family about Rs. 1.16 crore in compensation, and MCD, the truck's registered owner, appealed, arguing the eyewitness (the victim's sister-in-law) was unreliable being a relative, and that the victim was partly at fault for crossing near a parked car.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that a relative's eyewitness testimony is not automatically unreliable, especially since it was corroborated by the medical report and site plan, and the FIR was registered on the very day of the accident. It rejected MCD's contributory negligence argument, since MCD produced no evidence and the burden of proving the victim's own fault falls on the party alleging it; it also referenced the Supreme Court's recent recognition of the right to walk safely as a fundamental right of pedestrians. Finding the Tribunal's calculation of the deceased's income (verified through her income tax records and directorship in a company) and compensation formula to be sound, the Court dismissed MCD's appeal and directed it to deposit the full compensation amount.

Lesson Learnt

Drivers of heavy vehicles bear a high duty of care towards pedestrians, especially in busy areas, and a family member's eyewitness account of an accident is not automatically dismissed as unreliable: it carries weight when it matches medical and documentary evidence.

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