Gujarat High Court
Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd vs Gangaben Gelabhai Soriya on 19 June, 2024
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/FA/2233/2024 JUDGMENT DATED: 19/06/2024
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2233 of 2024
With
CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR STAY) NO. 1 of 2024
In R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 2233 of 2024
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP N. BHATT
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1 Whether Reporters of Local Papers may be allowed
to see the judgment ?
2 To be referred to the Reporter or not ?
3 Whether their Lordships wish to see the fair copy
of the judgment ?
4 Whether this case involves a substantial question
of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution
of India or any order made thereunder ?
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RELIANCE GENERAL INSURANCE CO. LTD.
Versus
GANGABEN GELABHAI SORIYA & ORS.
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Appearance:
MR RATHIN P RAVAL(5013) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
for the Defendant(s) No. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP N. BHATT
Date : 19/06/2024
ORAL JUDGMENT
1. The present appeal is filed by the appellant - Insurance
Company under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, being
aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the judgment and award dated
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C/FA/2233/2024 JUDGMENT DATED: 19/06/2024
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24.02.2024 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Special),
Rajkot in Motor Accident Claim Petition No.923 of 2018, by which,
the Tribunal has partly allowed the claim petition by awarding
Rs.21,77,800/- with 9% p.a. interest to be paid to claimant/s, by
holding opponent No.1 - Owner of Truck No.GJ-12-AW-7676 and
opponent No.2 - Insurance Company (the present appellant) liable,
jointly and severally.
2. The facts of the present appeal are as under :
2.1 On 26.02.2017, deceased - Gelabhai Butabhai Soriya,
aged about 24 years, was travelling in rickshaw bearing registration
No.GJ-07-VW-9809. When said rickshaw reached near the spot of
accident, at that time, the driver of the truck bearing registration No.
GJ-12-AW-7676 came in rash and negligent manner and dashed with
the rickshaw and thereby, accident occurred and the deceased died
in the said accident. Therefore, the claimants - the parents of the
deceased have filed a claim petition before the Tribunal to get
compensation of Rs.20 lakhs with interest at the rate of 20% p.a.
2.2 The notices were served to the opponents. Opponents
No.1 and 3, who are the owners of the truck and rickshaw,
respectively, did not appear and contest this claim petition/s.
Opponent No.2 - the insurance company has filed its objections/reply
at Exh.18. The issues were framed by the Tribunal. Oral as well as
documentary evidence were led before the Tribunal. After hearing
the submissions made by the rival parties, the Tribunal has partly
allowed the claim petition(s) and awarded compensation as noted
above.
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2.3 Hence, the insurance company has filed the present
appeal before this Court.
2.4 There were two claim petitions which were heard and
decided together since other claimant/s has also filed the claim
petition arising from the said accident.
3. Learned advocate Mr. Rathin Raval for the appellant -
Insurance Company has submitted that the learned Tribunal ought to
have considered 50% negligence of the driver of the rickshaw. He
has submitted that the learned Tribunal has awarded exorbitantly
high compensation and it is required to be sliced down. He has
submitted that the pleadings of the claimants was that the deceased
was working on their agricultural field and in that case, only
supervisory loss can be paid. He has submitted that the minimum
wages ought to be considered. He has also submitted that the
learned Tribunal has grossly erred in awarding compensation of
more than Rs.21.77 lakhs, as such a determination is without any
factual basis or evidence on record. He has further submitted that
this appeal may be allowed and the amount of compensation
awarded by the Tribunal is required to be interfered with by this
Court.
4. I have considered the submissions made by the learned
advocate for the appellant. I have perused the record and
proceedings. I have gone through the impugned judgment and award
passed by the Tribunal. I have also considered the pleadings of the
parties before the Tribunal. It clearly transpires from the record that
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the deceased had received serious head injuries; and further due to
the various head injuries, the deceased has died on the ground of
intracranial injuries in the brain and its shock. Further, the deceased
was aged about 21 years at the time of accident, the multiplier
applied by the learned Tribunal is proper. Further, the learned
Tribunal has rightly considered that future prospective income of the
deceased and awarded compensation accordingly. Further, the
claimants have proved their case by leading oral evidence where the
claimant was cross-examined by the insurance company, but no
admission or no material is found from the cross-examination of the
claimant which supports the case of the insurance company as
denied by it. Further, the learned Tribunal has properly considered
the dependency and personal expenses as well as consortium and
granted compensation keeping in mind the observations made by the
Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of National Insurance Company
Limited versus Pranay Shethi reported in (2017) 16 SCC 680. Under
the circumstances, the appeal therefore deserves to be dismissed.
5. In view of above, the following order is passed.
5.1 The present appeal is dismissed, with no order as to costs.
5.2 The amount lying with the Tribunal and/or in the FDR,
pursuant to the order of this Court if any, shall be disbursed to the
claimant/s, along with accrued interest thereon, if any, by account
payee cheque / NEFT/ RTGS, after proper verification and after
following due procedure, within a period of six weeks from today.
5.3 Record and proceedings be sent back to the concerned
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Tribunal, forthwith.
6. In view of above, civil application would not survive and
is disposed of accordingly.
(SANDEEP N. BHATT,J)
M.H. DAVE
