Appeal seeking enhancement of compensation for damage to a Maruti Omni van in a motor accident. Tribunal had awarded a consolidated Rs.25,000/-. The court found the survey report and unauthenticated computer-printed bills insufficient to prove full damages, and dismissed the appeal confirming the tribunal award.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE ZIYAD RAHMAN A.A.
TUESDAY, THE 12TH DAY OF MARCH 2024 / 22ND PHALGUNA, 1945
MACA NO. 1339 OF 2012
OPMV NO.2528 OF 2003 OF MOTOR ACCIDENT CLAIMS TRIBUNAL
,KOZHIKODE
APPELLANT/PETITIONER:
LOVELY SEBASTIAN AGED 40 YEARS W/O.RAJU SEBASTIAN, VETTIKKATTUGAL VEEDU, KODENCHERI P.O.,KOZHIKODE
BY ADV Celine Joseph
RESPONDENTS/RESPONDENTS:
BY ADVS.
SRI.P.A.FIROZKHAN SRI.N.S.MOHAMMED USMAN SMT.PRIYA DEVI.P SRI.P.K.MANOJKUMAR,SC,UNITED INDIA INSU
THIS MOTOR ACCIDENT CLAIMS APPEAL HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 12.03.2024, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
M.A.C.A. No.1339/2012
: 2 :
JUDGMENT
The appellant was the petitioner in OP(MV) No.2528/2003 on
the files of the Principal Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Kozhikode. The said claim petition was filed by her under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act seeking compensation for the damages sustained to her vehicle in a motor accident that occurred on 20.07.2003. The Maruti Omni van owned by the petitioner was hit by a pickup van bearing registration No.KKL-11J 3063.
filed a written statement disputing the liability to pay the compensation. They contended that the accident occurred due to the negligence of the driver of the car. However, they admitted the coverage of policy for the said pickup van.
M.A.C.A. No.1339/2012
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PW1 and Exts.A1 to A5 were marked as documentary evidence. No evidence was adduced by the respondents. After appreciating the materials placed on record, the tribunal found that the appellant could not prove the claim of Rs.1,22,500/- by adducing proper evidence and therefore, an award was passed granting a consolidated sum of Rs.25,000/- as compensation which was recoverable from the 2nd respondent with interest at the rate of 7% per annum with a cost of Rs.250/-. This appeal is submitted by the appellant in such circumstances seeking enhancement of compensation.
M.A.C.A. No.1339/2012
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to be noticed is that, the aforesaid evidence would indicate the damages were sustained to the vehicle but that is not sufficient to hold whether the entire damages were sustained in the motor accident which is the subject matter of the claim petition. It is to be noted that the appellant failed to produce any vehicle inspection report by any of the officers of the Motor Vehicles Department, despite the fact that a criminal case had been registered in connection with the accident as evidenced by Ext.A1. The nonproduction of the said document is very crucial, as in the absence of such report, it may not be possible to find out whether the entire damages referred to in the survey report were due to the accident which is the subject matter of this claim petition.
M.A.C.A. No.1339/2012
: 5 :
invoices being produced before the insurer of the appellant and getting reimbursement also cannot be ruled out, as rightly pointed out by the learned counsel for the 2nd respondent. The said chances are very high as apparently, the Maruti van for which the claim was put forward was a newly purchased vehicle and in all probabilities, it was likely to be covered with a package policy.
Thus, when all the aforesaid aspects are taken into consideration, I do not find any scope for interfering with the finding of the tribunal in this regard, since the conclusions of the Tribunal were probable. Therefore, I do not find any merit in this appeal and accordingly, this appeal is dismissed confirming the award passed
by the tribunal.
Sd/ZIYAD RAHMAN A.A. JUDGE
ncd/
1 issue framed by the court
Whether compensation of Rs.1,22,500/- for vehicle damage was sufficiently proved to justify enhancement over the tribunal's Rs.25,000/- award.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
Lovely Sebastian
Jobson Chacko
United India Insurance Company Ltd., Branch Office, Thamassery
Ziyad Rahman A.A.
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
