Procedure, 1908, is not strictly speaking applicable to the proceedings
before the Claims Tribunal except to the extent provided in Section
169(2) of the MV Act and the Rules made thereunder. The whole
object of the summary procedure is to ensure that the Claim Petition
is heard and decided by the Claims Tribunal expeditiously. In
paragraph 9, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that the Claims
Tribunal is required to dispose of all issues one way or the other in one
go while deciding the claim petition. Therefore, normally, the
Tribunals should not dispose of the Claim Petitions based on some
preliminary issue, usually raised by the Insurance Company about
maintainability or otherwise. So also, the Tribunals, even after holding
that the issue of rashness and negligence is not proven, should not
shirk deciding on other issues, including the issue of the quantum of
compensation. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that since all the
issues (points for determination) are required to be considered by the
Claims Tribunal together in the light of the evidence that may be led
in by the parties and not piecemeal, often matters are required to be
remanded. In Bimlesh (supra), the matter had to be remanded.
Therefore, in this case, it will have to be held that the approach of the
Tribunal in not deciding all the issues together is contrary to the law
laid down in Bimlesh (supra). Recently, even in the Agricultural
Produce Marketing Committee, Bangalore Vs The State of
Karnataka and others, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 307, the Hon'ble
Supreme Court has reiterated that the Courts must avoid shortcuts
and decide all issues that fall for their determination.
