Supreme Court
The Supreme Court canceled the High Court order against giving compensation of more than Rs 50 lakh to the family of a person killed in a road accident and directed to give compensation to the family of the victim. The bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Vishwanathan said that the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order against this decision was ‘strange’. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in Satna district had accepted the claim of the victim’s wife and son. The tribunal directed to pay compensation of Rs 50,41,289 to the victim’s family.
High Court ignored the case – Supreme Court
“We are surprised that in the first appeal filed under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the High Court ignored the matter and by a summary order reversed the judgment passed by the MACT,” the bench said. The top court said that the appeal under Section 173 of the Act was in the nature of a first appeal and it was required (at the very least) (by the High Court) to make a ‘careful analysis of the oral and documentary evidence placed before the MACT’ .
The top court’s decision came on an appeal filed by family members of the victim, who had challenged the high court order passed in August, 2023. The bench said it considered sending the case back for fresh consideration by the High Court.
What was the whole matter?
The court said that since the incident occurred in the year 2018 and six years had already passed, we felt that any further delay would further increase the suffering of the already devastated family. The bench said that the High Court set aside the award on the ground that the claimants did not produce any evidence to prove that the accident was caused by the truck involved in the case. It came on record that the victim was working as an assistant post master in Maihar tehsil and was driving while returning home on June 18, 2018, when a speeding truck hit his car. The claimants said he was admitted to hospital with a broken spine, but died the same day.
After MACT compensated the victim’s family members, the insurance company filed an appeal in the High Court. The top court said, “We find the decision of the High Court to be completely unacceptable.” The court upheld MACT’s finding that the death was caused by the negligent driving of the truck.
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