An altercation erupted in the first BEST committee meeting on Thursday before the committee passed its first proposal—to pay around ₹40 lakh to seven victims of accidents involving BEST buses. The opposition contested this, saying that the amount exceeded what the victims had demanded in the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. However, the committee pointed out that the victims’ families had demanded ₹83 lakh while they were paying half that amount.
The meeting was held at Electric House, the headquarters of the BEST Undertaking. Apart from the tribute paid to the late Ajit Pawar, the 20-odd-minute meeting saw discussions on just one issue: that of paying compensation to victims involved in BEST accidents.
The compensation amounts were cleared by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal last December.
On Thursday, declaring that a couple of victims were being paid more than the amount they had claimed, opposition leaders alleged that the ruling party and administration had tried to clear the compensation without providing case-by-case details of the accidents.
“Who are these claimants, what are their bank account numbers and where are their government ID proofs?” questioned Sunil Ahir, BEST Committee member from the Shiv Sena (UBT). “What is the proof that these are real claimants? How can we clear something like this?”
Claims for compensation in fatal injuries caused by BEST vehicles are filed before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal under Sections 163 A and 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
The proposal stated that seven different claimants from BEST accident victims had demanded a total of ₹83 lakh.
After negotiations with the claimants, the total amount settled upon was ₹40.50 lakh. Three claimants have already been paid ₹75,000 by the BEST Undertaking. During a Lok Adalat held on December 13, 2025 at the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, the compensation was approved.
“There is a window of 45 days by when these seven claimants need to be paid compensation,” said Trushna Vishwasrao, chairperson, BEST Undertaking. “We have to still pay ₹39.75 lakh to them, and so we approved this proposal presented by the administration. The opposition raised a couple of points on this proposal as there were insufficient details about the victims and accidents, which I have asked the administration to present in the next meeting.”
The BEST administration stated that due process was followed while bringing forth the details of these accidents involving BEST buses.