Orissa High Court
Legal Manager vs Prithvinath Singh And Others on 1 December, 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
MACA No.1199 of 2014
Legal Manager, ICICI Lombard
General Insurance Co. Ltd. .... Appellant
Mr. S.K. Das on behalf of Mr. J. Mishra, Advocate
-versus-
Prithvinath Singh and Others .... Respondents
Mr. S. Udgata, counsel for Respondents 1-3
CORAM:
SHRI JUSTICE B. P. ROUTRAY
ORDER
1.12.2022
Order No.
08. 1. The matter is taken up through hybrid mode.
2. Heard Mr. S.K. Das on behalf of Mr. J. Mishra, learned counsel
for the insurer -Appellant and Mr. S. Udgata, learned counsel for
claimant - Respondents.
3. Present appeal by the insurer is against the impugned judgment
dated 20th August, 2014 of the learned District Judge-cum-MACT,
Jharsuguda passed in MAC Case No.28 of 2012, wherein
compensation to the tune of Rs.4,10,000/- along with interest @ 6%
per annum from the date of filing of the claim application, i.e. 23rd
July, 2012 has been granted on account of death of deceased Ranjeet
Kumar Singh in the motor vehicular accident dated 28th August, 2011.
4. Mr. Das submits on behalf of the Appellant that the
involvement of the offending vehicle, i.e. motor cycle bearing
registration number OR 23E 6333 is doubtful and hence the insurer is
not liable to indemnify the owner. In support of his submission, it is
stated that the F.I.R. was lodged after 213 days of the alleged accident
and therefore, the narration of accident as per the claimants is doubtful
in view of such delay in reporting the matter to police.
5. It is seen that the accident took place on 28th August, 2011
while the deceased was standing on roadside. He was immediately
shifted to District Headquarters Hospital, Jharsuguda and then to
Burla VSS Medical College and Hospital and again to Ayush
Hospital, Bhubaneswar on 4th September, 2011. While undergoing
treatment at Ayush Hospital, Bhubaneswar, the deceased died on 8th
September, 2011. Upon his death, UD F.I.R. No.58 dated 8th
September, 2011 was registered in Saheed Nagar Police Station. The
police held inquest over the dead body and sent it for post mortem
examination. The UD F.I.R., the inquest report, the dead body challan
and the post mortem examination report have been marked in Ext.5,
Ext.4, Ext.3 and Ext.8 respectively.
6. The insurer did not adduce any evidence and did not dispute
these documents prepared in Saheed Nagar UD PS Case No.58 of
2011. Therefore no merit is seen in the contention of the insurer to
dispute the accident, involvement of the offending vehicle and the
negligence on the part of the driver of the offending vehicle. As such,
their contention is rejected.
7. There being no further dispute raised with regard to
quantification of the amount of compensation, which is found just and
reasonable, no interference is required in the impugned judgment.
8. In the result the appeal is dismissed and the insurer - Appellant
is directed to deposit before the tribunal the entire compensation
amount with interest as directed by the tribunal, within a period of two
months from today; where-after the same shall be disbursed in favour
of the claimant - Respondents on same terms and proportion as
contained in the impugned judgment.
9. The statutory deposit made by the insurer - Appellant before
this court along with accrued interest be refunded to the Appellant on
proper application and on production of proof of deposit of the
awarded amount before the tribunal.
10. An urgent certified copy of this order be issued as per rules.
( B.P. Routray)
Judge
M.K.Panda
