In MAC App. No.03/2017, the Chief Justice dismissed the appeal of an insurance company. Relying on a prior decision regarding a specific accident where a truck was falsely identified as a bus to shift liability, the court clarified the vehicle was a truck, finding the insurer not liable.
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.
MAC APP No.03/2017
B E F O R E THE HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
Present :
For the appellant : Mr. S. Lodh, Advocate.
For the respondents : None.
25.07.2017.
Heard Mr. S. Lodh, the learned counsel for the appellant-insurer.
No representation from the respondents despite proper service of notice upon them.
It is stated by the learned counsel for the insurer that this case is squarely covered by the decision of this Court reported in National Insurance Company Ltd. vs. Subi Chandra Tripura and anr., (2016) 2 TLR 724 and can be disposed of in terms thereof.
It may be noticed at once that this appeal arose out of the same accident, which was the subject matter of the claim petition in Subi Chandra Tripura and anr. (supra) .
The observations of this Court in that case are as
follows:-
“12. This witness was cross-examined but in the cross-examination nothing has come out. From the aforesaid facts, it is more than apparent that the vehicle involved in the accident was truck No.TR-03-C1842. This truck was being used to ferry the supporters of the CPI(M) party to attend the rally being addressed by Sri Jitendra Choudhury, the then Forest Minister. Unfortunately, the truck turned over and three persons died; one of them being the owner of the truck Sadhan Tripura. The FIR also reflected that the vehicle involved in the accident was a truck but it appears that after 3/4 days the legal heirs of Sadhan Tripura and the other claimants realized that if they pursue the truth that the accident had occurred with the truck, they would not get compensation from the
MAC APP No.03/2017
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Insurance Company and the burden would fall on the legal heirs of Sadhan Tripura who would not be able to pay this amount. It is more than obvious that to avoid this, a false case was set up that the vehicle involved in the accident was a bus.
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money. The manner in which the liability has been shifted on the Insurance Company shows total dishonesty by police and other officials. At the same time, I must commend the Fire Service Officials who did not change their record.
The vehicle involved in the accident was Truck No.TR03-C-1842, and not Bus No.TR-03-1284. Consequently, the appellant-insurer is not liable to pay any compensation to the claimant-respondents.
The impugned judgment dated 27.08.2015 passed by the learned Member, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Gomati District, Udaipur in T.S. (MAC) No.74 of 2013 cannot be sustained in law and is, accordingly, set aside.
The appeal stands disposed of.
CHIEF JUSTICE
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2 issues framed by the court
Whether the appellant-insurer is liable given that the accident involved a truck, not a bus, as established by the Court.
Whether the impugned award of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal should be set aside.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
National Insurance Company Ltd. vs. Subi Chandra Tripura and anr.Followed¶9
National Insurance Company Ltd. vs. Subi Chandra Tripura and anr., (2016) 2 TLR 724
National Insurance Company Ltd.
Chief Justice
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
