ACCIDENT
Evidence—F.I.R.—Delay in lodging—Claimant-scooterist alleged that he sustained injuries in accident with a truck—Tribunal dismissed the claim application on the grounds that it was a case of ‘skid and fall’ as per hospital records and there was delay of 34 days in lodging of F.I.R.—High Court held that delay in lodging of F.I.R. is not a ground to reject a claim and awarded compensation—Held: a claim cannot be rejected ... Read more.

MOTOR INSURANCE
Damage to vehicle—Repudiation of claim—Permit—Truck caught fire due to short-circuit—Owner-insured filed complaint and State Commission directed insurance company to settle the claim on non-standard basis—National Commission set aside State Commission’s order observing that truck was operated without a valid permit—Owner contended that truck was having valid national permit on the relevant date—Insurance company ... Read more.

MOTOR VEHICLES ACT, 1988
Section 147 (1)—Motor insurance—Policy—Commencement of—Apex Court reiterates that policy commences from the time and date mentioned therein and not from an earlier point of time. ... Read more.

MOTOR VEHICLES ACT, 1988
Section 147 (1)—Motor insurance—Policy—Fraud—Liability of insurance company—Insurance company contended that policy was fraudulently obtained—Held: merely alleging fraud does not amount to proving it; no evidence led by insurance company to prove its contention; insurance company cannot escape from liability. ... Read more.

MOTOR VEHICLES ACT, 1988
Section 166 (1) (c)—Claim application—Legal representative—Father and younger sister—Deceased aged 24 and claimants are five family members including father and younger sister—Tribunal held that father was not dependent on the income of the deceased and since father is alive younger sister was also not dependent on the deceased and deducted rd for personal expenses—High Court affirmed Tribunal’s finding—Held: ... Read more.

MOTOR VEHICLES ACT, 1988
Section 168 (1)—Award—Just compensation—Whether court can award compensation more than claimed in order to grant just compensation—Held: yes; it is duty of the court to award just compensation; rough calculation made by claimant is not a bar or upper limit. ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Fatal accident—Deceased aged 24, doing wholesale business of fruits, earning Rs. 35,000 p.m.—Claimants: five family members including father and younger sister—No evidence about income—Tribunal took income at Rs. 4,500 p.m., holding that father and younger sister were not dependent on the deceased deducted rd for personal expenses and awarded Rs. 9,77,200— High Court affirmed Tribunal’s award—Apex Court relying on minimum ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Fatal accident—Deceased a lady aged 43, permanent resident of U.S.A., working as a Software Engineer and real estate salesperson, earning USD 11,600 p.m.—Claimants: husband and two daughters—Claims Tribunal fixed income at Rs. USD 11,600 p.m., adopted multiplier of 14 and awarded Rs. 8,05,77,476— High Court considering that deceased was earning in foreign currency adopted multiplier of 10 and reduced the award to Rs. 5,75,68,982—Apex Court ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Fatal accident—Deceased aged 47, Mechanical Engineer, earning Rs. 5,00,000 p.a.—Claimants: widow and one more family member—Tribunal fixed income at Rs. 90,000 p.a. and awarded Rs. 13,91,300—High Court held that income tax return filed by deceased cannot be accepted as proof of income and affirmed Tribunal’s award—Apex Court held that Tribunal and High Court erred in not accepting the income tax return—Apex Court assessed income ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Fatal accident—Deceased aged 50, working in the State electricity department, drawing Rs. 50,000 p.m.—Claimants: widow, two major sons and married daughter—Claims Tribunal awarded Rs. 24,36,000—High Court holding that major sons and married daughter cannot be considered as dependants deducted 50 per cent towards personal expenses instead of th and allowed Rs. 24,44,183 after adding 30 per cent towards future prospects—Apex Court held ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Fatal accident—Deceased aged 57 and 50, husband and wife, running a mill in partnership—Claimants: four daughters—Tribunal fixed income at Rs. 60,000 p.m. and awarded Rs. 58,24,000 for husband and Rs. 93,61,000 for wife—High Court observed that to assess prevailing loss of income the remuneration received by the deceased from the mill is relevant and not the income of the mill and considering that claimants did not suffer loss of income from mill ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Fatal accident—Deceased aged 57-58, phone mechanic in BSNL, drawing Rs. 39,500 p.m.—Claimants: widow, three sons and daughter—Two sons were held not dependent on the deceased—Tribunal awarded Rs. 28,66,994—High Court considering that deceased was to retire in two years adopted split multiplier and reduced the award to Rs. 19,66,833—Apex Court took income at Rs. 4,57,000 p.a. after deducting income tax, added 15 per cent towards future ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Fatal accident—Principles of assessment—Income—Determination of—Tribunal in absence of evidence assessed income at Rs. 1,500 p.m. and awarded Rs. 2,54,000 which was enhanced to Rs. 5,96,000 by the High Court—Held: Tribunal and High Court erred in assessing income less than minimum wages; income fixed at Rs. 6,000 p.m. and compensation enhanced by Rs. 4,00,000. ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Fatal accident—Principles of assessment—Multiplier—Choice of—Deceased a lady aged 43, permanent resident of U.S.A., working as a Software Engineer and real estate salesperson, earning USD 11,600 p.m.—Tribunal adopted multiplier of 14—Whether High Court was justified in reducing the multiplier to 10 considering that deceased was earning in foreign currency—Held: no; there is no exception for a person earning in foreign currency; ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Fatal accident—Principles of assessment—Rate of exchange—Deceased a lady aged 43, permanent resident of U.S.A., working as a Software Engineer and real estate salesperson, earning USD 11,600 p.m.—Whether compensation has to be assessed by adopting rate of exchange prevailing on the date of filing of claim application or on the date of accident—Held: date of filing of claim application is the proper date for fixing rate of exchange. ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Injury—Arm—Amputation of right arm—Injured a carpenter, earning Rs. 25,000 p.m., suffered disability at 74 per cent—Claims Tribunal took income at Rs. 5,000 p.m. and awarded Rs. 6,84,582—High Court enhanced the award to Rs. 8,26,600—Apex Court considering that carpenter cannot be classified as an unskilled worker and relying on minimum wages of a skilled worker prevalent in Punjab fixed income at Rs. 8,337 p.m., adopted multiplier ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Injury—Brain—Injured aged 32, working as Branch Manager in a private limited company, drawing Rs. 22,000 p.m., suffered brain injury rendering him disabled to the extent of 60 per cent—Injured remained hospitalised for 25 days, underwent major brain surgery and has become mentally unstable—Tribunal relying on income tax return for AY 2011-12 fixed income at Rs. 1,62,420 p.a. and taking disability at 60 per cent awarded Rs. 20,60,385—High ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Injury—Coma—Injured aged below 50 lost his speech and intellectual functions, he cannot stand or walk and has been catheterised—Medical Board assessed disability at 100 per cent—Tribunal discarded disability certificate and taking disability at 50 per cent awarded Rs. 16,29,465—High Court affirmed Tribunal’s assessment of disability and enhanced the award to Rs. 19,39,418—Apex Court found that Tribunal should not have discarded ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Injury—Eye—Injured aged 39, a diamond cutter, lost complete vision of one eye—Tribunal took disability at 49 per cent and awarded Rs. 8,70,000—High Court assessed disability at 65 per cent and enhanced the award to Rs. 10,57,500—Apex Court took income at Rs. 5,000 p.m., added 40 per cent for future prospects, adopted multiplier of 15, considering that diamond cutting involves great degree of precision which would be difficult to achieve ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Injury—Head—Injured aged 50, a mason, suffered fractures of temporal bone, parietal bone and collar bone resulting in 70 per cent disability—Injured underwent more than one operation and died during pendency of appeal before Apex Court—Tribunal fixed income at Rs. 13,500 p.m., adopted multiplier of 15 and taking disability at 70 per cent awarded Rs. 21,35,000—High Court took Rs. 3,000 per percentage of disability and reduced the award to ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Injury—Principles of assessment—Assessment of disability—Injured is in the state of coma—Medical Board assessed disability at 100 per cent—Tribunal doubting the disability certificate rejected it and assessed disability at 50 per cent on its own—High Court affirmed Tribunal’s assessment of disability—Whether Tribunal could have discarded the expert opinion of Medical Board without having the disability re-assessed—Held: ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Interest—Allowed at the rate of 8 per cent per annum. ... Read more.

RAILWAYS ACT, 1989
Sections 123 (c) (ii) and 124-A—Untoward incident—Bona fide passenger—Claimant filed claim stating that her brother while travelling in a train fell down and sustained fatal injuries— Railway Claims Tribunal found that no ticket was recovered from the person of the deceased and holding that no evidence was led to show that deceased fell down from running train dismissed the claim application—High Court considering that death occurred ... Read more.

WORDS AND PHRASES
Pain and suffering—Pain and suffering is not only on account of physical pain but also suffering on account of loss of desire of economic betterment, social betterment, etc.; once a person is unable to partake in his profession of choice all these desires are unceremoniously ground to a halt. ... Read more.

EMPLOYEE’S COMPENSATION ACT, 1923
Section 4-A (3) (a)—Interest—Commissioner awarded interest at 6 per cent per annum—High Court affirmed Commissioner’s award—Statutory provision is to award interest at 12 per cent per annum and discretion conferred on Commissioner is only to the extent of awarding higher rate of interest not exceeding the prescribed lending rates applicable to scheduled banks—Whether interest at the rate of 12 per cent ... Read more.

EMPLOYEE’S COMPENSATION ACT, 1923
Section 30 (1)—Appeal—Absence of—Interference in award—Insurance company in an appeal by claimants seeking enhancement in rate of interest contended that it is not liable to pay interest on compensation for failure of employer in not depositing the provisional payment in terms of section 4-A (2)—Held: insurance company did not file any appeal/cross-appeal before the High Court questioning its liability to ... Read more.

LIFE INSURANCE
Repudiation of claim—Suppression of material facts—Claim for death of assured in accident was repudiated on the ground of suppression of material facts—State Commission dismissed the compliant on the ground that assured disclosed only one life insurance policy taken from Aviva and concealed other three policies taken from LIC of India which were in force while submitting the proposal form—National Commission affirmed the findings of the ... Read more.

MOTOR VEHICLES ACT, 1988
Section 166 read with section 163-A—Claim application—Conversion of claim filed under section 166 to one under section 163-A after dismissal—Car met with accident resulting in death of owner of car, his minor child and car driver—Claim applications filed by surviving legal heirs of the deceased under section 166 were dismissed on the ground that accident occurred due to negligence of their own driver; plea of claimants to treat ... Read more.

QUANTUM
Fatal accident—Deceased aged 38, working as Executive Housekeeper in a hotel, drawing Rs. 70,000 p.m.—Claimants: four family members—Tribunal awarded Rs. 75,97,060—High Court assessed contributory negligence of the deceased at 25 per cent and awarded Rs. 77,50,000—Apex Court set aside finding of contributory negligence, relying on last salary drawn by the deceased fixed income at Rs. 62,725 p.m., added 40 per cent of income for future prospects, ... Read more.

Section 166 (1) (c) read with Hindu Succession Act, 1956, section 15 (1) (b)—Claim application—Legal representative— Death of married daughter, her husband and minor son in the same accident—Claim filed by parents of married daughter and her mother-in-law was made a party respondent—Tribunal apportioned the award equally amongst mother, father and mother-in-law of the deceased—Whether mother-in-law of the deceased, being the only surviving class-II legal heir, ... Read more.