The former President died after he suffered multiple injuries in a road accident. In a suit pending before the UT /District and Sessions Judge B.S. Bedi, Pardhan Kaur has sought a compensation of Rs 1 crore.

Saying that the loss of her husband is ``irreparable and cannot be accounted in terms of any amount,'' Pardhan Kaur has claimed damages on account of loss of income, comfort, security, medical, transport and other facilities which were to be available to her husband. She has said that her late husband had an income of more than Rs 5 lakh per month inclusive of all facilities provided by the Government of India.

Zail Singh died in the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGI), Chandigarh, after he suffered multiple injuries in a road accident on November 29, 1994, at Mihalpur Handoor village. The Ambassador car in which he was travelling collided with a truck.

Pardhan Kaur has claimed that the truck was being driven in a rash and negligent manner and the car in which the former President was travelling was at a high speed. The respondents are the driver of the truck Tarsem Lal, the truck owner Nirmal Singh, the National Insurance company (with whom the truck was insured), the State of Punjab (through its Chief Secretary, who owned the car in which the former President was travelling) and the driver of the car in which he was travelling, Harvinder Singh.

Zail Singh's nephew Basant Singh has also claimed Rs 10 lakh as damages for injuries caused to him, when he was accompanying his uncle. Both Pardhan Kaur and Beant Singh have sought 18 per cent interest for the amounts from the day the petition was filed. They filed their claims in November 1995. The case will now come up before the District and Sessions Judge under MACT on February 3, 1999.

Earlier, the driver of the truck, Tarsem Lal, had responded that any such accident took place while the driver of the car had denied that he was driving in a rash and negligent manner.

The insurance company, on the other hand, stated in its reply that the accident occurred when the driver of the car lost balance as it was going at 100 km per hour. The company claimed that the truck driver's licence was fake and so the company was not responsible for any compensation. The company also denied that the truck was insured with them.