Madhya Pradesh High Court
National Insurance Companylimited ... vs Satyanarayan Dixit on 21 November, 2023
Author: Vivek Agarwal
Bench: Vivek Agarwal
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
AT JABALPUR
BEFORE
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE VIVEK AGARWAL
ON THE 21 st OF NOVEMBER, 2023
MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No. 1327 of 2023
BETWEEN:-
NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED MR.4
R O AD VIJAY NAGAR JABALPUR THROUGH DEPUTY
MANAGER T.P HUB CIVIC CENTRE MARHATAL
JABALPUR M.P. (MADHYA PRADESH)
.....APPELLANT
(BY SHRI GULAB CHAND SOHANE - ADVOCATE)
AND
1. SATYANARAYAN DIXIT S/O SHRI NANDKISHORE
DIXIT, AGED ABOUT 62 YEARS, OCCUPATION:
BUSINESS KIRANA SHOP R/O 5 STREET SHANTI
NAGAR DAMOH NAKA JABALPUR M.P. (MADHYA
PRADESH)
2. MANOJ SHRIVASTAVA S/O LATE BABULAL
SHRIVASTAVA, AGED ABOUT 34 YEARS, R/O
ITWARA BAZAR NEAR PANI KI TANKI P.S.
KOTWALI DISTRICT NARSINGHPUR (DRIVER
VEHICLE NUMBER MP 15 MZ-8985) (MADHYA
PRADESH)
3. RAVINDRA LODHI W/O DEENDAYAL LODHI R/O
DEVLI KHEDA POST BANDA TEHSIL BANDA
DISTRICT SAGAR (OWNER VEHICLE NUMBER MP
15 MZ-8985) (MADHYA PRADESH)
.....RESPONDENTS
(SHRI VINEET KUMAR MISHRA - ADVOCATE FOR THE RESPONDENT
NO.1 AND SHRI ANURAG DUBEY - ADVOCATE FOR THE RESPONDENTS
NO.2 AND 3)
This appeal coming on for admission this day, th e court passed the
following:
ORDER
Signature Not Verified Signed by: PUSHPENDRA PATEL Signing time: 23-11-2023 18:13:37 2 This miscellaneous appeal under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is filed by the insurance company being aggrieved of the award dated 30.11.2022 passed by the learned 12 th Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Jabalpur in MACC No.1384/2019 (Satyanarayan Dixit Vs. Manoj Shrivastava and others) on three grounds, namely, of false implication, secondly of excessive compensation and thirdly that Tribunal has without appreciating the provisions of law, directed payment of penal interest at the rate of 15% per annum.
2. It is submitted that as per Dr. Arpita Timothi, who was examined as DW-1 before the learned Tribunal since she has prepared MLC (Ex.P-4) and in that MLC claimant had himself narrated the fact of slip of his motorcycle and, therefore, it is submitted that it is not a case of road accident but that of slip of the motorcycle.
3. Similarly, it is submitted that without there being any supportive bills, excessive amount of compensation has been awarded.
4. As are as first ground is concerned, MLC (Ex.P-3) was carried out by Dr. Ashok Kumar Jain. In this MLC it is clearly mentioned that it is a case of road accident. Even in the final report, there is mention of two witnesses who had seen the incident, namely, Santosh Sen and Govind Vishwakarma. However, insurance company did not call the Investigating officer and interrogate him as to how the vehicle in question was implicated. Therefore, evidence of Dr. Arpita Timothi is not sufficient to discard the plea of road transport accident, especially, in view of the fact that Dr. Arpita Timothi has admitted that at the time of the examination, patient was nervous and under depression. Thus, first ground of false implication is not made out. Insurance Signature Not Verified Signed by: PUSHPENDRA PATEL Signing time: 23-11-2023 18:13:37 3 company has not even bothered to examine the investigator or any other independent witness from the spot to disprove the factum of accident.
5. Similarly, ground of excessive payment too is not made out. However, third ground is made out. Penal interest could not have been awarded by the learned Tribunal. Tribunal has wrongly relied on a judgment of Ghaziabad Development Authority Vs. Balbir Singh, (2005) 9 SCC 573. In that case facts were different.
6. Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of National Insurance Company Ltd. Vs. Keshav Bahadur and others, 2004 ACJ 648, has clearly held that penal interest could not be levied in default of payment of compensation within a specific time period and, therefore, in view of the judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of National Insurance Company Ltd. Vs. Keshav Bahadur and others (supra), appeal on this third ground, deserves to be and is hereby allowed.
7. It is directed that claimant will be entitled to interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment.
8. To the extent indicated hereinabove, this miscellaneous appeal is allowed and disposed of.
9. Record of the learned Tribunal be sent back.
(VIVEK AGARWAL) JUDGE pp Signature Not Verified Signed by: PUSHPENDRA PATEL Signing time: 23-11-2023 18:13:37