rajdeep kumar 1 year ago

rajdeep #Delhi High Court #MotorAccidentClaim #MVAct1988 #RoadAccidentJustice

Case Summary: MAC.APP. 925/2019 – Bijenderi & Ors. vs. Shyamveer Singh & Ors.

Court: High Court of Delhi

Date of Decision: 18th December 2024

Coram: Hon'ble Ms. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna

Background:

The present appeal was filed under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 by the legal heirs of the deceased, Mr. Nirdosh, against the dismissal of their claim petition by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) on 13.09.2017. The Tribunal had rejected the claim due to alleged non-establishment of negligence on part of the driver of the offending vehicle (Xylo No. UP 14 BQ 1872).

Key Issue:

Whether the death of Mr. Nirdosh was caused due to rash and negligent driving of the offending Xylo car, and whether the claimants were wrongly denied compensation due to an inadvertent filing of a wrong post-mortem report.

Court's Observations:

• The appellants had inadvertently submitted the post-mortem report of another deceased (Mr. Rajeshwar Nand) instead of Mr. Nirdosh. However, the court accepted the additional document application (CM No. 52419/2019) and took the correct post-mortem report on record.
• The FIR initially mentioned a tractor trolley, but after investigation, the chargesheet was filed against the driver of the Xylo car (Mr. Shyamveer Singh), who did not contest the case or offer any defence.
• Relying on precedents like Pushpa Rana v. National Insurance Co. and Mangla Ram v. Oriental Insurance Co., the court emphasized that negligence can be established based on the "preponderance of probabilities" and that the chargesheet is prima facie proof of involvement and rash driving.
• The Tribunal’s rejection based on hyper-technical grounds, including the wrong post-mortem report, was found unjustified.

Conclusion:

The High Court set aside the impugned award dated 13.09.2017, holding that there is sufficient evidence on record to establish that the accident was caused due to rash and negligent driving of the Xylo vehicle by Mr. Shyamveer Singh. The matter has been remanded to the MACT for fresh adjudication on the quantum of compensation.

Next Steps:

The parties have been directed to appear before the learned MACT on 07.01.2025 for further proceedings related to the computation and disbursal of compensation.