State Of U P And Another vs Shameem Bano And 6 Others
2023 Latest Caselaw 23430 ALL

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
 
 


?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:171726
 
Court No. - 7
 

 
Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 1326 of 2023
 

 
Appellant :- State Of U P And Another
 
Respondent :- Shameem Bano And 6 Others
 
Counsel for Appellant :- Piyush Shukla
 

 
Hon'ble Dr. Yogendra Kumar Srivastava,J.

Heard Shri Piyush Shukla, learned Standing Counsel for the appellants and perused the record.

The appeal is directed against the award dated 06.06.2023 passed in Motor Accident Claim Petition No. 430 of 1997 (Shameem Bano And Others Vs. State of U.P. and Anr.) in terms of which the claim petition has been allowed against the appellant.

The only ground which is sought to be urged in support of the appeal is that the Tribunal has not considered the statements of D.W.-1 and D.W.-2, in order to establish the stand of the appellant that the vehicle in question (Vehicle No. U.R.U.-1576), was on a different location at the relevant point of time and therefore it was not involved in the accident.

Learned counsel for the appellant, in all fairness, has pointed out that the Tribunal had earlier passed an award dated 04.08.1998 rejecting the claim. The said award was subjected to challenge in First Appeal from Order No. 1055 of 1998 (Shameem Bano and Ors. Vs. State of U.P. through District Magistrate, Ghaziabad and Anr.). The said appeal was partly allowed and the findings of the Tribunal on Issue Nos. 2 and 3 with regard to the involvement of the Vehicle No. U.R.U.-1576, were held to be perverse and not based on proper appreciation of the evidence on record. The matter was remanded back to the Tribunal to decide the other issues involved in the claim petition as per law. The relevant observations made in the aforestated judgement dated 02.09.2022, are as follows:-

"13. This Court for the reasons given above finds that the finding of the Tribunal on the issue of involvement of vehicle U.R.U.-1576 in the accident is perverse and is not based upon proper appreciation of evidence on record. Accordingly, this Court set aside the finding of the Tribunal on issue nos.2 & 3 and hold that accident had occurred by vehicle U.R.U-1576"

Subsequent to the remand, the Tribunal has made a fresh award dated 06.06.2023, which is subject matter of challenge in the present appeal.

Counsel for the appellants, has not disputed that the judgment of the High Court in the First Appeal from Order No. 1055 of 1998 (Shameem Bano and Ors. Vs. State of U.P. through District Magistrate, Ghaziabad and Anr.), having attained finality, the question with regard to involvement of the Vehicle No. U.R.U.-1576, cannot be re-agitated in the present appeal.

No other ground has been urged in support of the appeal.

The appeal is accordingly dismissed.

The statutory deposit of Rs.25,000/-, shall be remitted to the Claims Tribunal for adjustment against the amount payable to the claimants by the appellant in terms of the award passed by the Tribunal.

Order Date :- 25.8.2023

Vipasha

[Dr. Y.K. Srivastava, J.]