Hon'ble Shri Narayan Shukla,J.
While travelling in a Tata Sumo, the claimant was injured on account of an accident that occurred on the basis of rash and negligent driving on the part of the driver. The claimant filed a claim petition, which was allowed in part and a sum of Rs. 39,454/- was awarded. The appellant being aggrieved filed the present appeal for enhancement of compensation.
From a perusal of the award, we find that the claimant had filed a disability certificate issued by the Chief Medical Officer which also contained the signatures of the other members of the Board, who examined the claimant and found that he has a permanent disability of 40%. This certificate was rejected by the Tribunal on the ground that the same has not been proved by production of any witness, namely, by a doctor.
We are of the opinion that a certificate issued by a Chief Medical Officer, being a public document, is not required to be proved as per the Section 74 and 77 of the Evidence Act. The contents of a public document is proved by production of a certified copy under Section 77 of the Evidence Act.
In M.M. Rajappa v. Mal Haha Uru Bajappa : AIR 1983 SC 1633 and Pt. Parmanand Katara v. Union of India : 1989 25 ALR 695, the Supreme Court held that if a document is a certified copy of a public document, it need not be proved by calling a witness. A similar view was also given by a Division Bench of this Court in Oriental Insurance Company Limited v. Surendra Umrao and another : 2007 (67) ALR 580. In the light of these decisions, we are of the opinion that the Tribunal committed a manifest error in rejecting the disability certificate on the ground that it was not proved by a witness.
Mr. Rakesh Bagga, learned counsel for the Insurance Company contended that the disability certificate by itself will not entitle the claimants to claim an enhancement compensation until and unless the claimant proves that the disability, which he had incurred resulted in a loss of earning. In this regard, the learned counsel has placed reliance upon a decision of this Court in Sunil Kumar v. Smt. Jasvinder Kaur and another : 2012 (9) ADJ 1 (NOC) and in Om Prakash Goyal v. Raghvender Vikram Singh and another : 2012 (8) ADJ 534 as well as a decision of the Supreme Court in Mohan Soni v. Ram Avtar Tomar and others : 2012 (2) SCC 267.
In the light of the aforesaid facts, we allow the appeal, set aside the award and remit the matter back to the Tribunal concerned, who will reconsider the disability certificate as well as the loss of earning capacity of the appellant, if any. The -3- Tribunal will decide the matter afresh within three months from the date of production of a certified copy of this order in the light of the observation made aforesaid.
The Registry is directed to remit the record to the lower court within two weeks from today.
Order Date :- 24.11.2014 Anupam S/-