Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Neela vs Manager Bharatii Axa General Insurance ... on 18 January, 2023
Bench: Surya Kant, J.K. Maheshwari
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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO.405/2023
(@Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No.9651/2020)
NEELA & ORS. Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
MANAGER BHARATII AXA GENERAL INSURANCE CO. Respondent(s)
LTD. & ORS.
O R D E R
Leave granted.
2. The appellants are wife, two daughters and a minor son of the deceased Kallappa Umadi, who was aged about 50 years when, while riding on his motorcycle, he was hit by a tractor loaded with sugar cane. The tractor was held to be driven in a rash and negligent manner. The accident took place on 18042015. Kallappa Umadi sustained grievous hurt and while he was being treated at the Civil Hospital, he unfortunately succumbed to the injuries.
3. The appellants filed a Claim Petition before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal seeking compensation of Rs.60,00,000/.
4. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Vijaypur vide Award dated 01062018 granted compensation of Rs.19,37,000/ along with interest at the rate of 9% p.a. after assessing the income of the deceased at the rate of Rs.16,000/ per month. Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by VISHAL ANAND
5. Date: 2023.01.20 17:59:28 IST Reason: The dissatisfied appellants filed an Appeal before the High Court of Karnataka, Kalaburagi Bench and vide impugned judgment 2 dated 24042020, the said Court reduced their compensation from Rs.19,37,000/ to Rs.15,06,250/.
6. It is pertinent to mention that the Insurance Company – Respondent No.3 was satisfied with the award as it did not file any appeal or crossobjection before the High Court.
7. The High Court has reduced the compensation amount after holding that the monthly income of the deceased was to be taken Rs.9,000/ instead of Rs.16,000/ as was done by the Tribunal.
8. The aggrieved appellants are before this Court.
9. We have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the material placed on record.
10. In Para 14 of the impugned Judgment, the High Court does not assign even a single reasoning for fixing the notional income of the deceased at Rs.9,000/ per month.
11. The Tribunal, on the other hand, had evaluated the entire evidence led by the claimants and keeping in view the fac tors, like minimum wages etc., fixed the income of the deceased at Rs.16,000/ per month.
12. In our considered view, there was no justified reason for the High Court to reduce the income of the deceased from Rs.16,000/ per month to Rs.9,000/ per month especially when no such challenge was laid before it by the Insurance Company.
13. However, the High Court rightly awarded the compensation towards future prospects, loss of consortium and loss of estate. 3
14. For the reasons aforestated, the instant Appeal is allowed in part. The impugned Judgment of the High Court dated 24042020 to the extent it reduced the income of the deceased from Rs.16,000/ to Rs.9,000/ per month is set aside.
15. The other benefits granted by the High Court, especially in the light of the Constitution Bench’s Judgment of this Court in “National Insurance Company Limited Versus Pranay Sethi And Others” (2017) 16 SCC 680, are kept intact.
16. The appellants shall thus be entitled to the enhanced amount of compensation on the basis of monthly income of the deceased at the rate of Rs.16,000/ along with other benefits as awarded by the High Court.
17. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Vijaypur is directed to recalculate the amount of compensation payable to the appellants within a period of one month from today.
18. The Insurance Company shall deposit the enhanced amount of compensation, after deducting what has already been paid by them to the appellants, within one month thereafter, and the same shall be disbursed to the appellants forthwith.
…………………………………J (SURYA KANT) ……………………………………….J (J.K. MAHESHWARI) NEW DELHI 18TH JANUARY, 2023.
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ITEM NO.17 COURT NO.9 SECTION IVA
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No.9651/2020
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 24042020 in MFA No. 202327/2018 passed by the High Court of Karnataka at Kalaburagi) NEELA & ORS. Petitioner(s) VERSUS MANAGER BHARATII AXA GENERAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. Respondent(s) & ORS.
Date : 18012023 This petition was called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURYA KANT HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.K. MAHESHWARI For Petitioner(s) Mr. Preetam Shah, Adv. Mr. Angad Singh, Adv.
Mr. Pritam Kothadiya, Adv. Mr. K. Krishna Kumar, AOR For Respondent(s) Mr. Pradeep Gaur, Adv. Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Leave granted.
The appeal is allowed in part, in terms of the signed Order.
(VISHAL ANAND) (PREETHI T.C.)
ASTT. REGISTRARcumPS COURT MASTER (NSH)
(Signed Order is placed on the file)