Court No. - 1
Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 2364 of 2014 Appellant :- Smt. Pappi Devi And 2 Ors.
Respondent :- The Cholamandalam M/S General Insurance Co. Ltd. And 2 Ors.
Counsel for Appellant :- Mohd. Naushad Siddiqui,Shreesh Srivastava Counsel for Respondent :- Pawan Kumar Singh
Hon'ble Vivek Agarwal,J.
Heard Shreesh Srivastava, learned counsel for the claimant and Sri Pawan Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the Insurance Company.
This appeal has been filed by the claimants being aggrieved of the award dated 7.4.2014. passed by learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal / Additional District Judge, Court No. 7, Kanpur Dehat in Claim Case No. 212 of 2012 on the ground that learned Tribunal has rejected the claim on the ground of mismatch in the name of the driver of the offending vehicle though FIR was lodged within three days mentioning correct number of the offending vehicle.
It is admitted fact that alleged accident took place on 21.9.2011 whereas FIR was lodged on 24.9.2011, and therefore, merely mismatch in the name of the driver and recording a finding that when two persons sitting besides the driver died and no injury was sustained by the driver itself, causes doubt as to the factum of the accident is a perverse finding and in appropriate appreciation of the facts and circumstances of the case.
Sri Pawan Kumar Singh submits that even if it is presumed that involvement of the vehicle was found to be correct, then it is matter of evidence as to who was the actual driver at the time of the accident because if it is revealed from the evidence that actual driver is not having a valid driving license at the time of the accident then Insurance Company will have a valuable right to pay and recover. He submits that let matter be remanded to the Claims Tribunal to record a finding as to who was driving the offending vehicle at the time of the accident.
Sri Shreesh Srivastava has no objection to such submission.
Accordingly, matter is remanded to the learned Claims Tribunal to determine through evidence as to who was the driver of the offending vehicle at the relevant point of time and also to determine the quantum of compensation if any payable to the claimants taking parameters as were available on the date of the accident.
Let exercise be completed by the Tribunal within three months from the date of receipt of the order being passed today.
Since record has not been received in the High Court, parties to communicate the order to the concerned tribunal or its successor.
It is directed that both the parties shall appear before the Tribunal on 27.1.2021 for which no separate notice will be required and will be free to adduce their evidence which they will try to complete within further period of 15 days from the date of first appearance.
Order Date :- 6.1.2021 Arif