UNITED INDIA INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. MADHAVAN M

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal comes up for admission now. The respondents/claimants are served. The insurer is the appellant. Compensation is claimed by the claimants for the loss suffered by them on account of the death of their son, a young person, aged about 14 years. Father and mother of the deceased are the claimants. The claim was initially staked under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act. The deceased was a passenger in a taxi jeep. The appellant is the insurer in respect of that vehicle. The claim was staked against the driver, owner and insurer of the vehicle in which the deceased was travelling as also the driver and owner of another vehicle which was also involved in the accident.

(2.) As stated earlier, the claim was initially lodged under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act. In the course of the proceedings - evidently after realising that the other vehicle involved in the accident was not covered by a valid policy of insurance, the claimants prayed that driver and owner of the other vehicle may be deleted from the party array. They were accordingly deleted. A request was made that the claim may be reckoned as one under Section 163 A of the Motor Vehicles Act. That request was allowed by the Tribunal and the claim was considered as one under Section 163 A of the Motor Vehicles Act. The Tribunal came to the conclusion that the claimants are entitled to an amount of Rs.2,29,500/- as per the details shown below: <p><table class = tablestyle width="90%" border="1" align="center" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="font-family:Verdana"> <tr> <td width="6%"><div align="center">i)</div></td> <td width="73%">Compensation for fatal accident (under entry 1 of second schedule) (15,000 X 15)</td> <td width="21%"><div align="center">Rs.2,25,000.00</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td><div align="center">ii)</div></td> <td>Funeral expenses</td> <td><div align="center">Rs. 2,000.00</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td><div align="center">iii)</div></td> <td>Loss of estate</td> <td><div align="center">Rs. 2,500.00</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td>&nbsp;&nbsp; <div align="center"></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong>Total</strong></div></td> <td><div align="center"><strong>Rs.2,29,500.00</strong></div></td> </tr> </table>

(3.) The insurer challenges the award. It is first of all contended that alteration of a claim from Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act to Section 163 A of the Motor Vehicles Act and the deletion of the driver and owner of the other vehicle from the party array was ill conceived. The claimants cannot be assumed to have such a discretion to delete the owner and driver of the other vehicle from the array of parties. Merely because the other vehicle had not been insured, the appellant herein should not have been mulcted with the entire liability under Section 163 A of the Motor Vehicles Act, it is urged.