GURPREET KAUR Vs. NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPNY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The appellants (legal heirs of the deceased, Parminder Singh) are aggrieved by the order dtd. 18/7/2019, passed by the learned Single Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, at Chandigarh, whereby the appeal[FAO No. 6474/2018] preferred by the respondent no.1-Insurer of the offending vehicle against the award dtd. 7/5/2018, passed by the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal[For short the'MACT'], Chandigarh, has been upheld and the High Court has held that the appellant - claimants are entitled only to 50% of the total compensation payable by the respondents jointly and severally on the ground that it was a case of contributory negligence and the deceased -Parminder Singh was also at fault in causing the accident.

(3.) It is not in dispute that the deceased, Parminder Singh was driving his car from his office to his home and when he reached the New Anaj Mandi, at Sirsa Road, Mansa, the offending vehicle being driven by late Shri Darshan Singh, had an head on accident with the car of late Shri Parminder Singh and both the drivers expired in the accident. Vide award dtd. 7/5/2018, the MACT granted compensation of Rs.63,35,536.00 (Rupees Sixty Three Lakhs Thirty Five Thousand Five Hundred and Thirty Six) with interest at the rate of 6% per annum in favour of the appellantsclaimants and held that the respondents were jointly and severally liable to pay the said compensation. The aforesaid award has been modified by the High Court and the amount of compensation awarded has been slashed to Rs.31,67,768.00 (Rupees Thirty One Lakh Sixty Seven Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty Eight) [i.e. 50% of the amount awarded by the MACT] on the ground that this was a case of contributory negligence and the predecessor in interest of the claimants was also at fault with the accident. The reasoning in the impugned judgement is extracted hereinbelow: