KHON KAEN: Khon Kaen University has rejected a woman's demand for 66 million baht in compensation for the death of her daughter, a medical student hit by a bus on the campus on Aug 10.
Representatives said the university is state-owned and has no authority to pay the requested compensation and advised her to instead file civil and criminal lawsuits in seeking justice.
Arunnapa Watanapanich, 19, a second-year student in the faculty of medicine, was hit by a bus operated by the university's faculty of nursing at a T-junction on the campus.
Her mother, Nitaya Rungsathit, 55, is seeking compensation from the university.
In the first round of talks arranged by police between Ms Nitaya and university representatives and the driver of the bus involved in the accident, Ms Nitaya requested 66 million baht in compensation.
The amount was based on Arunnapa having graduated at the age of 25 and worked as a doctor in government service until she retired at 60 with an averaged income of 5,000 baht per day. She would have earned about 66 million baht in total, according to Ms Nitaya.
The university representatives agreed to accept the request for consideration.
The second round of talks was initially set for Sept 12 but was rescheduled for Sept 5.
In the talks on Monday, witnessed by police, the university was represented by Assoc Prof Piansak Pakdi, deputy rector for student affairs, Suwit Phiewphankhan, director of the administration department of the faculty of nursing, Asst Prof Pakwilai Srisaeng, dean of the faculty, and a team of lawyers.
After about three hours of talks, Ms Nitaya said the representatives had told her the university could not pay the compensation as it is a state-run entity. They said her request was not submitted to the university council because what happened was outside its scope of responsibility.
Ms Nitaya said the university lawyers advised her family to file two lawsuits - one with the Criminal Court and the other with the Civil Court. A criminal lawsuit was already being handled by the police. As for the civil suit, the family could employ lawyers to file for compensation.
The mother said she felt the university was not being sincere. However, the family could do nothing but follow the lawyers' advice, she said.
As for the criminal suit, police would send their investigation report to prosecutors by Sept 25. The family would hire lawyers to file a civil suit, she said.