Motor Vehicles Act,1988  - Section 166

Accidental claim - Appellant, a 50 year old, cart puller earning Rs.3300 p.m. met with an accident with a tanker, which was driven rashly and negligently - Multiple fracture in leg - Left leg amputated from knee - Appellant's disabled person's card showing his disability at 60% Tribunal, on referring to Schedule 1 of the 1923 Act, held disability at 50% - Taking his age to be 55 years and monthly income as Rs. 2400 p.m., Tribunal awarded Rs. 1,58,400/- for loss of future earning, Rs.30,000/- for mental and physical agony and Rs.15,000/- for medical expenses - High Court enhancing the compensation from Rs.2,03,400/- to Rs. 2,58,000 maintaining the disability at 50% - Justification. Held, both the courts below erred in pegging down the disability of the appellant to 50% with reference to Schedule 1 of 1923 Act. Extent of physical disability has to be judged from the nature of work - For a cart puller, losing his leg means end of his livelihood and disability is 100%. At the age of 55, finding an alternative job is not possible - Further, doing an alternative work is not a factor to scale down compensation - Compensation enhanced to Rs. 4,01,400/-. Additional compensation amount to carry interest at the rate of 9% p.a. K. Janardhan's & Raj Kumar's cases referred and followed.

Found In:  Topic Index

Motor Vehicles Act,1988  - Section 173 , Section 166

Deceased died in an accident - Tribunal held - Accident due to rash and negligent driving of truck - Tribunal considered - Quantum of compensation - Assessed income at Rs.50,000/- per annum - Deduction of Rs.1,500/- - Concluded dependency of - Claimants - Rs.2,600/- per month - Tribunal applied multiplier of 8 - Held - Claimants entitled compensation of Rs.2,59,000/- with interest 12% per annum - If not paid within two months - Interest 18% per annum - Appeal - Challenged award - Pleaded - Tribunal committed error - Applying multiplier of 8 - Multiplier of 17 have been applied - High Court - Not accept plea - Applied multiplier of 13 - Held - Appellants entitled compensation of Rs.4,20,600/- - Dissatisfied - Appeal Supreme Court - Deceased of 28 years - In terms of ratio in Sarla Verma's case - Amount of compensation - Applying multiplier 17 - Appellants entitle compensation Rs.5,30,400/- - Rs.15,000/- added under other permissible heads - As done by High Court - Total amount payable be Rs.5,45,400/- - Impugned judgment modified - Appellants entitled compensation of Rs.5,45,400/- after deducting - Amount already paid - Also pay interest 6% per annum - On enhanced amount Rs.1,24,800/- - Date of filing claim petition - Balance within a period of three months - Appeal allowed.

Found In:  Topic Index

Motor Vehicles Act,1988  - Section 166

Appellant a Coolie - Earning 4500/- per month - Riding as pillion on motorcycle - Met with an accident - Sustained grievous injuries - Right hand completely disabled - Tribunal awarded Rs. 1,13,900/- with interest at 6% per annum - Appeal - High Court - Enhanced compensation 1,33,990 from 133900 - Appeal - Doctor evidence cannot do work as a coolie - Loss of earnings or earning capacity - Disability - Caused due to accident - Sustained severe bodily injuries - Resulted in permanent partial disability - Would affect - Future earning capacity - Doctor as claimant's witness - Because of injury sustained - Claimant cannot work as a Coolie - Cannot do any other manual work - Amount awarded by Tribunal too less - Taking into consideration - Future economic loss - Interest of justice - Additional amount of Rs. 2,00,000/- (Rupees Two Lakhs) - Granted to appellant enhanced compensation - Appeals Allowed.

Found In:  Topic Index

Motor Vehicles Act,1988  - Motor Accident Claim

Contributory negligence - Liability towards of the petitioner - In question - A motorcycle, being driven in a very rash and negligent manner struck against the scooter of the deceased as a result whereof the deceased and his son were thrown on to the road and the deceased succumbed to the fatal injuries sustained by him - Claim lodged - MACT awarded a sum of 8,35,067/- in favour of the claimants together with interest @7%. - High Court upheld the order of the Tribunal - hence, the petitions - Fact not disputed - Petitioner to ensure that his motorcycle was not misused and that too by a minor who had no licence to drive the same, the MACT rightly saddled the liability for payment of compensation on the Petitioner - Petitions dismissed - No costs.

Found In:  Topic Index, Subject Index

Motor Vehicles Act,1988  - Motor Accident Claim

Quantum of compensation - In question - Appellant-claimant sustained grievous injuries in a motor vehicle accident - Claim lodged - Tribunal found that the accident was caused due to the negligence of the driver of the Tamil Nadu Corporation, thus, quantified the compensation to Rs.5,05,053.45/- - The High Court modified the award of the Tribunal to Rs.4,05,053.45/- as compensation payable to the appellant-claimant - Appeals - Whether the appellant is entitled to a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- towards "permanent disability" in addition to the amount awarded under the head "loss of earning capacity" - Held yes - Disability Certificates, issued by the two doctors, show that the appellant had disability to the extent of 90% - Partial loss in the eye sight, loss of middle finger of the right hand not only affects the claimant's earning capacity but also affects normal avocation and day-to-day work - Tribunal was fully justified in granting a sum of Rs.1,50,000/- towards permanent disability - Impugned order of the High Court set aside and of the Tribunal restored - Appeals allowed.

Found In:  Topic Index, Subject Index

Motor Vehicles Act,1988  - Motor Accident Claim

Deceased died on the spot - MACT applied the Multiplier of 9, and awarded a total compensation of Rs. 1,72,000/- along with 6 % interest per annum to the claimants - High Court - Enhanced the amount of compensation from Rs. 1,72,000/- to Rs. 3,39,000/- by applying multiplier of 18 instead of 9 - Appeal - In case where an unmarried young man dies, the average age of the parents will be taken for determining the multiplier and not the age of the deceased - Award passed by the Tribunal restored - Appeal allowed - No costs.

Found In:  Topic Index, Subject Index, Judgement

Motor Vehicles Act,1988  - Section 166

Tribunal concluded - Appellant/Injured consumed alcohol - Not mean - Driver of vehicle not need to drive the vehicle cautiously - Rash and negligent driving - Sustained injuries - Tribunal awarded Rs.40,000/- with interest @ 8% p.a. - High Court enhanced to Rs.1,48,200/- with interest @ 6% p.a. - Appeal for enhancement - Doctor assessed - Whole body disability 29% - Nature of disability - Cannot work as a coolie or do any other manual work - Judgment of High Court modified - Awarding Rs.3,00,000/- with interest of 6% p.a. on enhanced sum - Appeal allowed - No costs.

Found In:  Topic Index

The Consumer Protection Act,1986  - Vehicle Insurance

Vehicle insurance - Repudiation of claim - Insured bus met with an accident - Suffered extensive damage - Claim lodged - Not settled - Complaint filed - Lower forum allowed claim - National Commission - Set aside and quashed - Orders passed by District Forum and State Commission - Concluded - Driver at relevant point of time - Not holding valid driving licence - Appeal - Copy of Duplicate Licence issued by Licensing Authority, Murshidabad in the name of driver of bus - Issued only after "verification from original" - Eeven if original application not available but since duplicate licence was issued by - Same licensing Authority, Murshidabad - Cannot be challenged that original licence was fake, forged, manufactured or engineered document - At relevant point of time driver was holding a valid driving licence to drive the bus - Impugned order - National Commission set aside - Directed to pay Rs. 2,72,517/- with interest at rate of 9% per annum - Appeal allowed.

Found In:  Topic Index

Motor Vehicles Act,1988  - Section 166

Motor accident claim - Victim hit by a vehicle from behind - Driven rashly and negligently - Victim succumbed to injuries - Tribunal found involvement of offending vehicle - Not proved - Hence no compensation - High Court - Affirmed finding of Tribunal - Appeal - Evidence on record - Clearly proved number of vehicle name of owner - Not mentioned in FIR - When a person seeing his brother being knocked down by a speeding vehicle - Suffering in pain - Need of immediate medical attention - First attempt will be to take his brother to a hospital or to a doctor - Impugned judgments of Tribunal and High Court set aside - Insurance Co. directed to pay Rs.6 lacs as compensation to claimants with interest @ 7% p.a. - Appeal allowed.

Found In:  Topic Index

Motor Vehicles Act,1988  - Motor Accident Claim

Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) concluded - Accident occurred due to negligence of lorry driver - Result - Appellant sustained injuries - Loss of future earning capacity 100%- Directed owner and insurance company - Jointly and severally pay Rs.5,77,800/- as compensation with interest @ 8% - High Court reduced to Rs.3,20,000/- - Without giving any reasons - Appeal - Reduction in compensation by High Court without justification - Arbitrary - Set aside - Appeal allowed - No costs.

Found In:  Topic Index, Subject Index