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2011 DIGILAW 835 (RAJ)

National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Vidhya

2011-04-27

VINEET KOTHARI

body2011
Hon'ble Dr. KOTHARI, J.—These appeals arise out of the award of MACT, Banswara dated 14/11/2006, whereby, 22 claim petitions were decided by the learned Tribunal. 2. In an unfortunate accident, which took place on 8/12/2004 at about 3.40 pm, the mini bus No. RJ-27-P-3762 carrying passengers met with an accident in a head on collision with truck no. RJ-03-G-1472 near Durga Petrol Pump, Dahod Road, Theekaria and in the said accident as many as 07 persons died and 13 persons received injuries. The said mini bus was insured with appellant – National Insurance Company, whereas, the truck was insured with United India Insurance Co. Ltd. The learned Tribunal vide its judgment & award dated 14.11.2006 awarded the following compensation in these claims cases: Death Cases: S. No. Name of Deceased Amt. Claimed Amt. Awarded Appeal, If Any. 1 Vithal Rs.22,82,840/- Rs.3,00,600/- - 2 Gumaneg @ Guman Singh Rs.16,50,000/- Rs.2,83,800/- - 3 Vithala Rs.19,42,000/- Rs.3,00,600/- - 4 Gumaneg @ Ramesh Rs.35,44,000/- Rs.3,00,600/- - 5 Parvat Singh @ Rajendra Rs.39,00,000/- Rs.2,83,800/- - 6 Ashok Rs.35,00,000/- Rs.3,00,600/- - 7 Gopal Rs.33,00,000/- Rs.3,00,600/- - Injury Cases where appeals for Enhancement Filed: S. No. Name of Injured Amt. Claimed Amt. Awarded 1 Laxman Singh Rs.8,65,000/- Rs.23,000/- 2 Babu @ Kodar Rs.8,80,000/- Rs.20,000/- 3 Gopal Rs.7,77,000/- Rs.22,000/- Injury Cases Where Appeals for Enhancement Not Filed: S.No Name of Injured Amt. Claimed Amt. Awarded 1 Kishan Lal Rs.2,87,000/- Rs.33,000/- 2 Rakku Rs.2,68,000/- Rs.27,000/- 3 Jai Shanker Rs.8,20,000/- Rs.20,000/- 4 Parvat Singh Rs.13,20,000/- Rs.34,550/- 5 Arjun Singh Rs.8,20,000/- Rs.20,000/- 6 Arjun Singh Rs.18,20,000/- Rs.1,46,000/- 7 Bapu Lal Rs.7,62,000/- Rs.35,000/- 8 Gopal Rs.7,77,000/- Rs.22,000/- 9 Ramesh Banjara Rs.1,00,000/- Rs.10,000/- 10 Bhura Lal Rs.9,39,000/- Rs.8,000/- 11 Prakash Rs.7,80,000/- Rs.10,000/- 12 Ram Lal Rs.8,52,000/- Rs.20,000/- 13 Babu Lal @ Kodar Rs.8,80,000/- Rs.20,000/- 14 Laxman Rs.8,82,000/- Rs.23,000/- 15 Gamunath Rs.8,65,000/- Rs.21,000/- 3. Learned counsel for the appellant National Insurance Company, Mr.Sanjeev Johari and learned counsel for the United India Insurance Company, Mr. Anil Kaushik brought to the notice of the Court that against the responsibility fixed on both the Insurance Companies, the United India Insurance Company has not preferred any appeal and has paid 50% of amount of compensation awarded against it. Learned counsel for the appellant National Insurance Company, Mr.Sanjeev Johari and learned counsel for the United India Insurance Company, Mr. Anil Kaushik brought to the notice of the Court that against the responsibility fixed on both the Insurance Companies, the United India Insurance Company has not preferred any appeal and has paid 50% of amount of compensation awarded against it. In the present appeals filed by National Insurance Company, after hearing the counsels, this Court vacated the interim stay order granted in favour of National Insurance Company on 11/5/2009 and accordingly the appellant National Insurance Company has also deposited the remaining 50% of the awarded sum with the learned Tribunal and the amount of compensation has also been disbursed to the claimants. 4. Learned counsel for the appellant National Insurance Company submitted that since the passengers carried in the mini bus were beyond the seating capacity there was violation of the condition of permit in question and, therefore, claims could not have been awarded by the learned Tribunal. Another contention raised by learned counsel for the appellant before this Court is that the driver of the truck did not have the valid driving licence. 5. Learned Tribunal following the judgment of this Division Bench of this Court in the case of National Insurance Company Ltd. vs. Smt. Mohini Bai & Ors.- 2006 (2) DNJ (Raj.) 967 held that on the aforesaid ground of passengers in bus were in excess in number than the seating capacity, there is no violation of the permit condition and the Insurance Company cannot escape from payment of its liability to do pay such compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal and the learned Tribunal has also held in its award that truck driver Kishan Lal had proper driving licence to ply the said truck vide Ex.3. Thus, both the contentions of learned counsel for the appellant Insurance Company have been rightly rejected by the learned Tribunal and this court also finds no ground to interfere with such findings. 6. Accordingly, the appeals of the appellant National Insurance Co. are liable to be dismissed and same are accordingly dismissed. 7. As far as appeals filed by claimants for enhancement of compensation is concerned, this Court finds no cogent ground to enhance the compensation as the learned Tribunal after discussing the relevant evidence has awarded adequate compensation in favour of deceased/insured persons. are liable to be dismissed and same are accordingly dismissed. 7. As far as appeals filed by claimants for enhancement of compensation is concerned, this Court finds no cogent ground to enhance the compensation as the learned Tribunal after discussing the relevant evidence has awarded adequate compensation in favour of deceased/insured persons. Therefore, this Court is not inclined to enhance the compensation in the appeals filed by claimants. 8. Accordingly, the appeals filed by claimants for enhancement of compensation are also liable to be dismissed and are hereby dismissed. No costs.