Gujarat High Court
Prafulbhai Chhotabhai Patel vs The United India Insurance Co. Ltd on 3 February, 2021
Bench: Vaibhavi D. Nanavati
C/SCA/15060/2020 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 15060 of 2020
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PRAFULBHAI CHHOTABHAI PATEL
Versus
THE UNITED INDIA INSURANCE CO. LTD.
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Appearance:
MR VICKY B MEHTA(5422) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1,2
MR GC MAZMUDAR(1193) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
MR HG MAZMUDAR(1194) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE VAIBHAVI D. NANAVATI
Date : 03/02/2021
ORAL ORDER
1. By way of present petition under Articles
226 and 227 of the Constitution of India the
petitioners have prayed for quashing and
setting aside the order passed below Ex.1 in
MACP (Misc. Application) No.318 of 2019 in
MACP (New) Case No.4407 of 2006 MACP (Old)
Case No.2952 of 2000 and further be pleased
to allow the said application at Ex.1
preferred by the petitioners by directing the
learned District Court, Anand to
handover/encash the FDR No.968214 dated
13.4.2016 of Rs.91,83,741/ lying with Canara
Bank in favour of petitioner No.1 Prafulbhai
Chhotabhai Patel and FDR No.968275 of
Rs.22,95,936/ in the name of petitioner No.2
C/SCA/15060/2020 ORDER
Urviben Prafulbhai Patel of Canara Bank
through Account Payess Cheque, after due
verification or directly in their respective
Bank Account.
2. Heard Mr. Vicky B. Mehta, learned advocate
for the petitioners. Mr. H. G. Majmudar,
learned advocate appears for the respondent.
3. Rule. Mr. H. G. Majmudar, learned advocate
waives service of notice of rule on behalf of
the respondent.
4. Mr. Vicky B. Mehta, learned advocate for the
petitioners has submitted that this petition
is filed for disbursement of the entire
awarded amount and for encashment of the
FDRs. He has submitted that the learned
Tribunal has rejected Ex.1 by order dated
22.8.2019 for want of prosecution.
5. Having heard learned advocate for the
petitioners it appears that the application
Ex.1 was filed on 1.3.2019 for disbursement
of amount. Pending the application the
petitioners relieved the advocate from
appearing/representing the applicants.
Purshis at page61 dated 16.4.2019 states
that, by Ex.6 page61 services of the
advocate were relieved.
C/SCA/15060/2020 ORDER
6. The petitioner stated that by a judgment
and award dated 26.2.2014 the learned Motor
Accident Claims Tribunal, Anand was pleased
to partly allow the claim petition of the
petitioners holding that the petitioners are
entitled to recover compensation of
Ra.72,86,300/ with interest @ 9% from the
date of filing of the claim petition till its
realization with appropriate costs. All the
opponents of the claim petition were held
jointly and severally liable to pay the
amount of compensation and the opponents were
also directed to deposit the amount before
the Tribunal within a period of one month
from the order. The learned Tribunal further
directed that 80% of the awarded amount be
awarded to the petitioner No.1 being the
husband of the deceased and 20% of the
awarded amount be awarded to the petitioner
No.2 being the daughter of the deceased. Out
of the awarded amount, 70% of the total
amount was to be kept in Fixed Deposit in any
nationalized Bank or Post Office for a period
of 6 years with a direction to the bank or
Post Office not to grant any loan or advance
on the said FDR without prior permission of
the Tribunal. However, the petitioners shall
be entitled to withdraw the periodic interest
C/SCA/15060/2020 ORDER
on the said FDR as per the Rules of the Bank
or Post Office and the remaining 20% amount
shall be paid to the claimants by Account
Payee Cheque after due verification. The
petitioner further stated that pursuant to
judgment and award dated 26.2.2014, the
respondent - Insurance Company had deposited
an amount of Rs.1,52,74,209/ before the
learned District Court, Anand. It is stated
that against the judgment and award passed by
the learned MACT, Anand, the respondent
Insurance Company had preferred First Appeal
No.2443 of 2014 challenging the said judgment
and award. However, by judgment dated
21.6.2018 the Division Bench of this Court
was pleased to dismiss the appeal filed by
the Insurance Company and had apportioned the
extent of negligence in the ratio of 67% and
33% between the truck driver and the driver
of Maruti Car respectively. However, subject
to fixing the interse negligence of the two
drivers, the first appeal of the respondent
Company was dismissed.
7. This Court is inclined to exercise
extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226
of the Constitution of India. By order dated
22.8.2019 Ex.1 has been rejected only on the
ground that the petitioners were not well
C/SCA/15060/2020 ORDER
represented and that number of times the
matter was listed and the applicants were not
ready and willing to conduct the matter. The
application filed for disbursement of amount
requires adjudication by the learned
Tribunal. It appears that the petitioner
could not be represented by advocate and
resultantly the application came to be
dismissed for nonprosecution. In the
interest of justice the order passed at Ex.1
dismissing the application for want of
prosecution is required to be quashed.
Resultantly the order passed at Ex.1
rejecting/dismissing for want of prosecution
is set aside.
8. Accordingly the petition is partly allowed.
Rule is made absolute to the aforesaid
extent. The order dated 22.8.2019 passed at
Ex.1 is quashed and set aside. The matter is
remanded to the learned Tribunal for deciding
the matter afresh after providing opportunity
to both, the petitioner as well as the
respondent, purely on its own merits and in
accordance with law within a period of eight
weeks. The petitioner shall remain personally
present or through his duly appointed
advocate before the Tribunal. Learned
advocate for the petitioner, assures this
C/SCA/15060/2020 ORDER
Court that no unnecessary adjournments shall
be asked by the petitioner. The Tribunal
shall thereafter disburse the amount in
accordance with law.
(VAIBHAVI D. NANAVATI,J)
K.K. SAIYED
