High Court
Case Details
FAO-4789-2025 2025 (O&M) -1- IN THE HIGH IGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND H ND HARYANA AT CHANDIGAR GARH(cid:1) 120 (cid:1) The Oriental Insu al Insurance Company Limited FAO-4789-2025 (O&M) FAO Date of Decision:06.08.2025 Dat ellant ... Appellant Versus(cid:1) Smt. Rooba @ R a @ Rubina and others ... Responden ondents CORAM : HON HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMAR MARINDER SINGH GREWAL Mr. Ram Avtar, Advocate Present: Mr. for the appellant. for t *** *** (cid:1) AMARINDER S RAL) DER SINGH GREWAL, J. (ORAL) 1. The present appeal has been pref The n preferred by the appellant-Insuran nsurance Company agains against the impugned award dated ated 17.03.2025 passed by the learn learned Motor Accident C ident Claims Tribunal, Nuh (for short r short ‘the learned Tribunal’) whereby hereby a compensation of ion of Rs.16,98,904/- has been award awarded to respondents No.1 to 6 alo 6 along with interest @7% st @7% per annum from the date of cl tion. e of claim petition till its realization. 2. In brief, the facts, as culled out from In b t from the grounds of appeal, are that e that on 27.05.2016, one , one Tahir (since deceased) was goi as going to Manesar on his motor cyc tor cycle bearing No.HR .HR-52C-4255 on left side of the road he road at a moderate speed and at abo at about 9.30 PM, when when he reached near village Dhulaw hulawat, a vehicle bearing registrati istration No.HR-70B-6501 6501 (hereinafter referred to as the as the ‘offending vehicle’) driven by en by its driver in a rash rash and negligent manner, came fro me from wrong side and hit against t ainst the vehicle of the de the deceased-Tahir. After the accide accident, the deceased was taken to t en to the Sunrise Hospital ospital, Gurugram from where he wa he was referred to Safdarjung Hospi Hospital owing to his criti is critical condition but was declared b ared brought dead. In the claim petiti petition preferred by the y the legal heirs of deceased-Tahir, th ahir, the learned Tribunal has awarded warded a
Legal Reasoning
PANKAJ KUMAR 2025.08.08 11:07 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh FAO-4789-2025 2025 (O&M) -2- compensation of ion of Rs.16,98,904/- along with inter h interest @7% per annum from the da the date of institution of ion of the claim petition till realiza realization, which is subject matter atter of challenge in the p n the present appeal. 3. Learned counsel for the appellant Learn ellant submits that involvement of t t of the offending vehic vehicle in the alleged accident ha ent has not been established beyo beyond reasonable doub doubt. It is further submitted tha d that the FIR registered qua alleg alleged accident does no oes not find mention the registration n tion number of the vehicle alleged to ged to be involved in the s n the said accident as well as name of ame of the driver. Further, the FIR w FIR was got registered at at the behest of PW2-Aabid, who , who at the time of registration of t n of the FIR, did not men ot mention the registration number of the offending vehicle as well s well as names of owner wner and driver of the said vehicle. icle. Rather, a supplementary stateme tatement was got recorded corded by the police on 01.06.2016 in 016 involving the offending vehicle hicle just to get false com e compensation from the appellant llant-insurance company. It is furth s further submitted that that even the owner and driver of the of the offending vehicle did not appe t appear before the learn learned Tribunal and they proceed roceeded ex parte simply to help t help the respondents-claim claimants to get the compensatio ensation from the appellant-insuran nsurance company. It is It is also submitted that even the cl the claim petition was preferred by t d by the respondents-claim claimants after a gap of five years f ears from the date of accident and thu and thus, they were not ent not entitled for any compensation. 4. I have heard learned counsel for the I hav for the appellant and perused the pap he paper book with his abl his able assistance. 5. Admittedly, name of the driver wa Admi er was not mentioned by PW-2/Aab 2/Aabid while registering stering FIR, which was got registered istered next day of the accident i.e. t i.e. on 28.05.2016. How . However, on 01.06.2016, a supplem pplementary statement of PW-2 was g was got recorded wherein herein registration number of the off he offending vehicle was mentioned i oned i.e. PANKAJ KUMAR 2025.08.08 11:07 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh FAO-4789-2025 2025 (O&M) -3- HR-70B-6501, w , which was held responsible for le for causing accident in which Ta ch Tahir expired. The co he complaint Ex.P2 was given with without any delay on the next day t day of accident, which hich made basis of registration of on of the FIR wherein the colour a lour and description of t of the offending vehicle i.e. wh white colour swift car were du duly mentioned. Fur . Furthermore, involvement of the f the offending vehicle in the alleg alleged accident was dul as duly proved in the police investiga vestigation and accordingly, final rep al report was submitted by tted by the police under Section 173 n 173 Cr.P.C, therefore, non-mentioni ntioning of registration n tion number of the vehicle and nam name of driver by PW-2 Aabid Aabid is immaterial becau because the fact remains that Tahir d Tahir died in a roadside accident, whi t, which was duly establis stablished by the claimant by examini amining eye witnesses PW-2 Aabid a abid and PW-3 Atti Mohd Mohd. These witnesses were duly s duly subjected to cross-examination ation by the counsel appe l appearing for the insurance compan ompany before the learned Tribunal a unal and their testimonies onies remained unshattered and foun d found reliable by the learned Tribun Tribunal. The onus to pro to prove that the offending vehicle ehicle was not involved in the alleg alleged accident was upo as upon the appellant-insurance comp e company but it failed to discharge t arge the said onus by lead by leading cogent evidence. Rather, du her, due opportunities were given to t en to the appellant-insuran nsurance to lead its evidence but no but no evidence was led and thus, thus, its evidence was cl as closed by order on 10.05.2024. 2024. Therefore, argument of learn f learned counsel for the a r the appellant-insurance company tha ny that the offending vehicle was false s falsely roped in the acci e accident by the respondents to get to get compensation from the appella ppellant- insurance, has no has no force. Filing of claim petition etition after a gap of five years from t from the date of accident cident is also immaterial because no se no such issue was raised before t efore the learned Tribunal ibunal that the claim petition was filed s filed at such a belated stage. PANKAJ KUMAR 2025.08.08 11:07 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh FAO-4789-2025 2025 (O&M) -4- 6. As an upshot of above, this Court find As an urt finds no illegality and infirmity in t ity in the award passed by sed by the learned Tribunal and conse consequently, the instant appeal stan al stands dismissed. 7. Misc. Application(s), pending if any, Misc. if any, also stands dismissed. AMARINDER SINGH GREWA (AM JUDGE EWAL) , 2025 August 06, 2025 Pankaj* ned Whether speaking/reasoned Whether reportable : : Yes/No Yes/No PANKAJ KUMAR 2025.08.08 11:07 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh