Delhi High Court
Oriental Insurance Co Ltd vs Pooja Chawla & Ors on 2 July, 2012
Author: G.P. Mittal
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Reserved on: 9th February, 2012
Pronounced on: 2nd July, 2012
+ CM(M) 1197/2011
ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO LTD ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Pradeep Gaur, Advocate
Ms. Mansi Gaur, Advocate
Mr. Dev Dutt, Advocate
versus
POOJA CHAWLA & ORS ..... Respondents
Through: None.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE G.P.MITTAL
JUDGMENT
G. P. MITTAL, J.
1. The Petitioner is aggrieved by an order dated 16.09.2011 passed
by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (the Claims Tribunal)
whereby the Petitioner's request for filing complete Detailed
Accident Report (DAR) by the Investigating Officer and supply
of proof of the Claimant's income was rejected and the
Petitioner was directed to file the report of its designated officer
within a period of three weeks. The Petitioner was also
burdened with costs of `25,000/-.
2. The Petitioner states that by order dated 07.05.2011, the Claims
Tribunal directed it to file the statement of facts in form G
within ten days and required it to examine the DAR given by
the Investigating Officer and take a decision in writing with
regard to the quantum of compensation payable to the Claimant
in accordance with law. The Petitioner submits that without the
Claimant's salary certificate, Leave Certificate, Medical Bills,
Discharge Summary and the Disability Certificate the quantum
of compensation could not have been assessed by it and thus a
reasoned decision for a legal offer could not have been given.
3. The Petitioner accordingly moved an application under Section
151 CPC read with Section 6 of the Claims Tribunal Agreed
Procedure, requesting the Investigating Officer to provide all
the documents stated above. For the sake of convenience, Paras
2,3,5,6 and 7 of the impugned order are extracted hereunder:-
"2. Brief facts necessary for the just adjudication of the
present application are that after filing of Detailed
Accident Report (DAR) in FIR No. 156/10, P.S. Rajouri
Garden by the police on 07/05/11, the insurance
company vide order dated 07/05/11 itself was directed to
file the report of the designated officer within 30 days.
The insurance company was under obligation to file the
said report of the designated officer in terms of judgment
of Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in case titled as Rajesh
Tyagi Vs. Jaiveer Singh FAO No.842/2003 decided on
16.12.2009. Vide the said order dated 07/05/11, the
insurance company was asked to examine the Detailed
Accident Report and was further directed to take decision
as to the quantum of the compensation payable to the
claimants. The designated officer of the insurance
company was required to place the reasoned decision
before this Tribunal within 30 days from 07/05/11.
3. On the next date of hearing i.e. on 20/07/11, the
insurance company instead of filing of the report of the
designated officer approached this court with this
application u/s 151 CPC and under Section 6 of the
Claims Tribunal Agreed Procedure to file the complete
detailed accident report by the investigating officer and
asked this court to direct the investigating agency to
provide certain documents.
x x x x x x x x x x x
5. Ld. Counsel for insurance company during the course
of arguments submitted that company is not in a position
to submit the report of the designated officer as the IO of
the case FIR pertaining to the present case have not
cared to provide certain important documents like salary
documents etc to the insurance company. He requested
this court that the IO be directed to provide the said
documents.
6. After hearing Ld. Counsel for insurance company, it
appears to me that the insurance company is deliberately
avoiding the process of law and willfully avoiding the
directions given by Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in the
aforesaid judgment in order to save its money for which
it had already taken the premium from the owner of the
offending vehicle. It further appears to me that the
insurance company wants to frustrate the very purpose of
the directions were given by the Hon'ble High Court in
the aforesaid judgment. The directions were given by the
Hon'ble High court of Delhi in order to expedite the
disbursal of the claims to the hapless victims of the road
accident and also to accelerate the pace of the decision
of the matters in the subordinate courts. I have given the
aforesaid views on the basis of the rules and regulations
which are discussed herein below.
7. As already said, the insurance company vide the
aforesaid judgment was under obligation to file the
report of the designated officer within 30 days. But it is
not the intent of the law that insurance company will
wholly depend upon the report of the designated officer
or that it will provide the report of the designated officer
only if the IO have duly done his duty . As discussed
herein after, it was incumbent on the part of the
insurance company also to have appointed its own
investigator who could have investigated the case of his
own."
4. It may be noticed that the instant case relates to a Claimant
having suffered injuries in a motor accident which occurred on
30.05.2010.
5. Rule 3 of the Claims Tribunal Agreed Procedure deals with the
duties of the Investigating Officer on receipt of information of
an accident. The relevant portion is extracted hereunder:-
"3.Receipt of information of an accident and duties of
the investigating police officer-
(1)......
(a)......
(b)......
(c)......
(d)......
(2) On receipt of the above information, it shall be the
duty of the investigating police officer, as expeditiously
as possible not later than 48 hours to-
(a)......
(b)......
(c)......
(d)......
(e)......
(f) Gather full particulars, and seek the following
documents from the parties as under:-
(A)...........
i............
ii............
iii............
iv............
v............
vi............
vii............
viii............
(B) From the Claimant(s), victims of an accident
or their legal representatives, as the case may
be:
(i) In case of death;
(a)............
(b)............
(c)............
a..........
b...........
c.............
(d)............
(e)............
(f)............
(g)............
(ii) In case of an injury case
(a) Proof of age and a Photo of injured,
address and other contact details of
the injured at the time of accident;
(b) Proof of income of the Injured at the
time of the accident,
a. In the form of pay slip/salary
certificate in the case of a
government/semi-government
employee,
b. Certificate of the employer and
bank statements of the last six
months of the injured reflecting
payment of salary in the case of a
private employee,
c. I.T. returns in the case of a self-
employed person;
(c) Disability certificate issued by a
Government Hospital or a recognized
private hospital;
(d) MLC/accident register extract of the
hospital and MLR
(e) Details and copies of medical bills
and expenses; in case of long term
treatment the Investigating Police
officer shall record the details of the
same and the Claimant may furnish
such bills before the Claims Tribunal;
(f) Proof of absence from work [where
loss of income on account of injury is
being claimed] i.e. certificate from the
employer and extracts from the
attendance register or log record or
like records;
(g) A brief statement of the facts
surrounding and quantum of
compensation intended to be claimed;
(h) Details of the claims tribunal, where
the Claimants have preferred an
application under Section 163A or
Section 166, if any, as on the date of
such verification or investigation by
the investigating police officer;
and thereupon the police investigating officer shall
either to(sic take) the above documents in possession
against receipt, or retain the photocopies of the same,
after attestation thereof by the person producing the
same;
(3) The investigating police officer shall verify the
genuineness of the documents mentioned in Clause
3(2) by obtaining confirmation in writing from the
office or authority or person purporting to have
issued the same or by such further investigation or
verification as may be necessary for arriving at a
conclusion of genuineness of the document or
information in question, including but not limited to
verifying the license of the driver and permit of the
vehicle, where applicable, from the registering
authority."
6. Rule 4 of the Claims Tribunal Agreed Procedure deals with
preparation and forwarding of DAR to the Claims Tribunal
within a period of 30 days from the date of the accident. Rule 4
enjoins the Investigating Officer not only to collect the
documents as required but also to verify the same.
7. The Claims Tribunal did not deal with the question raised in the
Application. The Application under Section 151 CPC which
was dismissed by the Claims Tribunal by the impugned order is
extracted hereunder:-
"APPLICATION UNDER SECTION 151 CPC AND
SECTION 6 OF "THE CLAIMS TRIBUNAL
AGREED PROCEDURE" ON BEHALF OF
RESPONDENT INSURANCE COMPANY TO FILE
COMPLETE DETAILED ACCIDENT REPORT BY
THE INVESTIGATING OFFICER
The applicant /respondent/ Oriental Insurance
Company Ltd. respectfully submits as under:-
1. That the concerned Investigating Officer has filed the
DAR before the Hon'ble Tribunal on 7.5.2011 and
case is fixed on 20.7.2011 for filing the written
reasoned decision/legal officer/compensation payable
to the claimant.
2. That the concerned Investigating Officer has not filed
the following information, documents, investigation
and verification reports, certificate:-
i) Salary Certificate/proof of income
ii) Leave certificate
iii) Medical bills
iv) Discharge summary
v) Disability certificate
3. That the applicant/Respondent/The Oriental
Insurance Company is unable to file the written
reasoned decision/legal offer in absence of the above
said documents, information, investigations and
verifications report, certificates.
It is, prayed that directions be given to the
investigating officer to furnish the copy of the
aforesaid 1) Salary certificate/proof of income, ii)
Leave Certificate, iii) Medical Bills, iv) Discharge
summary and v) Disability certificate
reports/investigation and verification reports,
certificates or complete Detailed Accident Report as
per the Claims Tribunal Agreed Procedure."
8. The Claims Tribunal instead of going into the question whether
the documents sought by the Appellant Insurance Company
were essential for making a genuine and reasonable offer with
regard to the quantum of compensation, went on to add that the
information could have been obtained by the Insurance
Company by moving an application in form C before the IO as
provided under Rule 5 of the Delhi Motor Accident Claims
Tribunal Rules, 2008. The information which the Insurance
Company can seek from the IO under Rule 5 is not sufficient to
make an offer with regard to the quantum of compensation. It
was only on the basis of the complete DAR that such an offer
could have been made. The Claims Tribunal acted in hot haste
in directing the Petitioner to file the report of the designated
officer within three weeks and imposing costs of `25,000/-. It
is not the purport of the judgment of the learned Single Judge in
Rajesh Tyagi & Ors. v. Jaibir Singh & Ors. FAO 842/2003
decided on 16.12.2009 and the Claims Tribunal Agreed
Procedure laid down by this Court in Rajesh Tyagi (supra).
9. If the Investigating Officer is unable to produce all the
documents as mentioned in Rule 3 (2) (f) (ii) and the Insurance
Company is unable to make an offer with regard to the
compensation, the Claims Tribunal is under an obligation to
hold an inquiry envisaged under Section 168 of the Motor
Vehicles Act.
10. The impugned order, therefore, cannot be sustained. The same
is accordingly set aside.
11. Pending applications also stand disposed of.
(G.P. MITTAL)
JUDGE
JULY 02, 2012
vk
