United India Insurance Co Ltd v. Smt Shashi Devi and Others

Court No. - 2 Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 115 of 2005 Appellant :- United India Insurance Co Ltd Respondent :- Smt Shashi Devi And Others Counsel for Appellant :- Suarabh Srivastava Counsel for Respondent :- Vashishtha Tewari,Madhava Nand Shukla Hon'ble Saral Srivastava,J.

¶1Heard earned counsel for the appellant.

¶2The present appeal has been preferred by the appellant-insurance company challenging the award dated 06.10.2004 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal/A.D.J. Room No. 4, Deoria, in M.A.C. No.244 of 2003 whereby the Tribunal has awarded Rs.4,41,000/- along with 9% interest as compensation to the claimants/respondents.

¶3Challenging the aforesaid award, learned counsel for the appellant has contended that offending vehicle Jeep No. UP-27C-5460 has been falsely implicated in the accident. It has further submitted that no F.I.R. had been lodged in the alleged incident and thus, the Tribunal has erred in law in holding the accident had taken place by the vehicle Jeep No. UP-27C-5460. It is further contended that accident had taken place in the year 2003, therefore, Tribunal has erred in taking the income of the deceased Rs. 3,000/- per month without there being given any evidence on record in respect to the income of the deceased.

¶4Per contra learned counsel for the claimants-respondents submitted that the accident was proved by the eye witness PW-2 who deposed before the Tribunal that the accident has taken by vehicle Jeep No. UP-27C-5460, the insurance company did not lead any evidence to rebut the testimony of P.W.2. The postmortem of the deceased also suggested that the deceased died because of injuries sustained by him in the accident. Accordingly, it is submitted that the finding of the Tribunal holding that accident had taken place by vehicle Jeep No. UP-27C-5460 is based upon proper appreciation of fact and evidence on record and does not warrant any interference by this Court in its appellate jurisdiction. It is further submitted that compensation awarded just and proper and is not liable to be interfered with by this Court in appeal.

¶5Be that as it may, the law is settled that the claimant has to prove the occurrence of accident on the principle of preponderance of probability. In the instant case, PW-2 who was the eye witness of the accident appeared before the Tribunal and deposed that the accident had taken place by the vehicle Jeep No. UP-27C-5460 and the postmortem of the deceased also suggested that it was an accidental death. The insurance company did not led any evidence in rebuttal to the testimony of claimants.

¶6Learned counsel for the appellant despite his best endeavour could not demonstrate from the record that the finding of the Tribunal on issue of involvement of offending vehicle is perverse and erroneous.

¶7In such view of the fact, this Court is of the opinion that the finding of the Tribunal on the issue of involvement of vehicle Jeep No. UP-27C-5460 is based upon proper appreciation of evidence on record and thus, being a finding of fact, does not warrant any interference by this Court in appeal.

¶8So far as, the issue of quantification of compensation is concerned, the court is duty bound to award just and fair compensation. In the instant case, the Tribunal has not awarded any amount towards future prospect. In such view of fact this Court is not inclined to interfere with the compensation,

¶9For the reasons given above, the appeal lacks merit and is accordingly, dismissed with no order as to cost. Order Date :- 12.10.2023 Vikram High Court of Judicature at Allahabad