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October 2010

SC — Damages for road deaths without deciding on guilty

By Raman Jokhakar
Tarunkumar G. Singhal
Chartered Accountants
Reading Time 1 mins
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8 SC — Damages for road deaths without deciding on
guilty


In two judgments last
week, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that in road accidents, insurance companies
should pay compensation under the ‘no-fault liability’ clause in the Motor
Vehicles Act, irrespective of the circumstances of the deaths. In one appeal,
Indra Devi v. Bagada Ram, the death was invited by the negligence of the
deceased driver himself. The Rajasthan HC asked the recipients of the
compensation to return the amount with interest to New India Assurance Co. as
the claimants were not entitled to the amount. The SC set aside the High Court
order and asserted the ‘no-fault liability’ u/s.140 of the Act did not depend
upon the conduct of the driver or the victim. In the second case, Eshwarappa
v. CS Gurushanthappa, the drunk driver and his four friends died while
rashly driving to a temple without informing the car-owner. The Accidents
Tribunal denied any compensation. However, the SC ruled even in such cases,
‘no-fault liability’ cannot be avoided.

(Source : The
Business Standard, dated 23-8-2010)

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