Jammu & Kashmir High Court
New India Assurance Co. Ltd vs Darshan Lal S/O Late Neelambu Ram on 9 February, 2024
Sr. No. 13
HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH
AT JAMMU
Case: MA No.569/2010
New India Assurance Co. Ltd. ..... Petitioner(s)
Divisonal Office No.II, Gandhi Nagar, through its
Sr. Divisional Managrer Mrs. Suman Gupta
Through :- Mr. Uday Bhaskar, Advocate.
Vs
1. Darshan Lal S/o Late Neelambu Ram, .....Respondent(s)
R/o Kacha Talab Bahu Fort, Jammu.
2. Rajinder Singh S/o Netar Singh
R/o Goondle, R.S. Pura
3. S. Tervinder Singh S/o Jasbir Singh,
R/o Village Khenspur Bishnanh.
4. Smt. Rita Kumari W/o Late Sh. Darshan Lal.
5. Miss Manta Kumari.
6. Miss Minnu Devi.
7. Miss Navneeta Devi.
Respondent Nos.5 to 7 are daughters of Darshan
Lal through their mother,i.e. respondent No.4.
All are residents of Kacha Talab Bahu Fort,
Jammu.
Through :- Mr. Surinder Singh, Advocate for R-2.
Mr. Anil Mahajan, Advocate for R-4 to 7.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MA CHOWDHARY, JUDGE
JUDGMEMT
09.02.2024
01. This appeal filed in the year 2010 under Section 173 of the Motor
Vehicles Act against the judgment /award dated 23.01.2010 passed by Motor
Accident Claims Tribunal, Jammu, in case file No.19/claim titled Darshan Lal
V/s New India Assurance Co. Ltd. & Ors. has been unfortunately on the files
of this Court for the last almost 13 years. The impugned award has been
challenged on many grounds including that the award was passed when the
petitioner/claimant Darshan Lal had passed away before passing of the award.
02. Learned counsel for the appellant has drawn the attention of this
Court towards an important fact that during the pendency of the claim petition
before the Tribunal, an application had been moved by the legal heirs of the
deceased-claimant, to bring them on record in his place, in the month of
December, 2007, whereas, the Tribunal without deciding this application to
bring on record the legal heirs of the claimant, passed the impugned award for
an amount of Rs.18,35,400/- along with simple interest @ 7.5% per annum
payable by the respondent Insurance Company-appellant herein.
03. Learned counsel for respondent Nos.4 to 7 who are the legal
representatives of the claimant-Darshan Lal admitted this submission with
regard to this fact and on perusal of the record, it is also found that an
application was moved on 08.12.2007 before the Tribunal below, by these
respondents, Rita Kumari (widow), Mamta Kumari, Minnu Devi and Navneeta
Devi (daughters) to bring them on record, as legal heirs of the deceased who
was stated to have died on 09.06.2007 in GMC Hospital, Jammu.
04. Thus, it is apparent from the submissions of learned counsels of both
the sides, as well as, from the record of the Tribunal that the claimant had died
during the pendency of the claim petition before the Tribunal and an
application by his legal heirs had also been moved for bringing them on record
in his place as claimants. However, the Tribunal appears to have overlooked
this important aspect of the matter and proceeded ahead to decide the petition
without making any reference with regard to the fact of the death of the
claimant, as such, the award passed by the Tribunal in favour of a dead person
can be stated to be nullity in law.
05. Without going into the other grounds raised in the memorandum of
the appeal, this Court in its thoughtful consideration deems proper and just that
the matter requires to be remitted back to the Tribunal to firstly decide the
application for bringing on record the legal heirs of the deceased/claimant and
thereafter proceed further with the disposal of the claim petition, having regard
to all the pleas raised by the parties.
06. Viewed thus, the appeal is allowed and the impugned award is set
aside with the direction to the Tribunal to take up the matter afresh for
consideration. The parties are directed to cause appearance before the Tribunal
on 07.03.2024. The Tribunal record shall be sent down along with a copy of
this judgment, for further compliance.
07. Disposed of, accordingly, along with application(s).
(MA CHOWDHARY)
JUDGE
JAMMU
09.02.2024
Eva
