Bengaluru: The insurer can’t raise the defence of negligence by the victim in a motor vehicle accident case when by the claimant has sought compensation under Section 163A of the Motor Vehicles Act, Karnataka high court observed recently while restoring the full amount of compensation in the case.
Section 163A of the MV Act provides for payment of compensation to accident victims without going into who is at fault.
Mahabaleshwar Krishna Bhat, 57, a music teacher and resident of Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district, was riding a bike on Sirsi-Hubballi road on a rain-hit July 6, 2012, when he rammed into a truck parked without indicators on. He sustained severe injuries on the head, leg and other parts of the body and died in hospital.
His wife and son moved the motor accident claims tribunal in Sirsi for compensation, claiming that the deceased was earning Rs 3,300 a month. On the other hand, Shriram General Insurance Company, the truck insurer, filed objections, stating that the application filed under Section 163A wasn’t maintainable as the deceased himself had contributed to the accident by way of negligence.
On April 18, 2015, the tribunal awarded a compensation of Rs 1,47,600 with 6% interest, holding that the deceased himself had contributed 40% to the accident. Both the claimant and the insurer challenged the verdict.
What SC had said
After perusing the material on record, as well as the Supreme Court’s decision in a case, Justice Vijayakumar A Patil pointed out that the top court had clearly spelt out that to permit the insurer to raise the defence of negligence would be to bring proceedings under Section 163A of the Act on a par with proceedings under Section 166 — it would not only be self-contradictory but also defeat the very legislative intention.
“It is crystal clear that in proceedings under Section 163A of the Act, the insurer cannot raise any defence of negligence on the part of the victim to counter a claim for compensation,” the judge noted while directing the insurer to pay Rs 2,49,500 as compensation (with 6% interest). While Rs 2 lakh is payable to the wife of the deceased, the remaining sum is for the son.
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