NEELAM ANAND Vs. MANMOHAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Neelam Anand, the appellant, was a happily married woman. She had a husband and 2 sons. She worked as a Special Assistant in Canara Bank at Ambala Cantt. On 17.4.99 she along with her husband was travelling from Delhi to Solan in a vehicle bearing No. HR 01-F 3692. Then tragedy struck. Near Shahbad there was a collision between this vehicle and another vehicle bearing No. PB 08-Q 7535. Neelam Anand lost her husband, K.K. Anand in the said accident and she herself was seriously injured.

(2.) The appellant suffered injury in the spine as a result of which her whole body below neck became totally paralysed. She is confined to a wheelchair. She has no sensation in the lower part of the body. She needs assistance and constant attendance. She cannot perform her daily ablutions without the assistance of other person. She cannot stand. She cannot move. She cannot write. She can only thumb mark documents, that too with the help of somebody who lifts her hand to put/move her thumb. She is, however, mentally totally alert. She understands everything. Above neck, she is all there. Her fate is worse than that of the dead.

(3.) She filed a petition for grant of compensation. The petition was contested. The learned Tribunal came to the conclusion that the accident had occurred due to negligence of the drivers of both the vehicles. It awarded compensation of Rs. 5,00,000 to the claimant. No reasons whatsoever were given by it for assessing the compensation at Rs. 5,00,000. The award is devoid of any reasoning in this regard. The compensation has not been awarded under separate heads and a lump sum of Rs. 5,00,000 has been awarded without considering the evidence.