Tribunal decision to compensate hitch-hiker right: HC to insurance firm

New Delhi, July 18 Court tells company to take a ‘human approach’ and not ‘indulge in jugglery of legal provision to deprive unfortunate victims of legal dues’
Can A hitch-hiker get road accident compensation?
Take the case of Rattan Singh, a resident of Gurgaon, who died when the Tata 407 he was in met with an accident in October, two years ago.
National Insurance Company Ltd (NICL), with which the vehicle was insured, denied compensation to Singh’s family on the ground that he was “merely hitching a ride” in a vehicle not meant to carry passengers but only cargo.
Taking a different view of Singh’s case, the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT), in 2007, ordered NICL, a government undertaking, to pay an interim compensation of Rs 50,000 to the family of the victim.
Challenging the MACT order, NICL told Justice V B Gupta in the High Court that the “Tribunal was wrong in passing the interim award of Rs 50,000 as the passenger was unauthorisedly traveling in the goods vehicle.”
Asking the company to have a “sympathetic approach” towards road victims and their kin, the Bench dismissed the insurance company’s appeal.
“The government undertaking (NICL) must have human approach in suchlike matter and should not indulge in the jugglery of legal provision so as to deprive the unfortunate victims of their legal dues,” Justice Gupta said.
Terming the appeal as nothing more than an “abuse of the process of law”, the court criticised the company for taking steps to “deprive the dependents of the victim solace and a little comfort” despite being a government enterprise.
Cautioning the company to take care not to file such appeals “on flimsy grounds”, the Bench directed NICL to deposit Rs 5,000 as fine with the office of the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court.
Express News Service
Posted online: Saturday , July 19, 2008 at 02:45:52Updated: Saturday , July 19, 2008 at 02:42:01
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