HC quashes order granting Rs 86 lakh to accident victim

Agreeing to the contention of the insurance company that the award for Rs 86 lakh was quite extraordinary and that there was no supporting evidence in the form of hospital and medical records or certification of disability, a division bench of the High Court, comprising Justice R Subbiah and Justice R Pongiappan, set aside the award.

The bench then remitted the case to the claims tribunal for fresh disposal on merits. The presiding officer whose earlier verdict was termed by the High Court as unfair and unjust, is no longer in office after he was transferred.

The bench also granted liberty to P Rammohan, the injured person, to provide necessary proof to support his claim, which was unavailable in the award that has been set aside.

The accident happened on September 19, 2005, when Rammohan was heading from Hospet to Kudlgi. A lorry hit his car, Rammohan said, claiming that he was badly injured in the accident.

Subsequently, he approached the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Coimbatore. In his petition, Rammohan said he was 30 years old at the time of the accident, and was employed as a junior manager with the National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd in Bellary district in Karnataka. The grievous injuries that he suffered in the accident left him permanently disabled, he claimed.

The presiding officer of the tribunal passed the order on January 2, 2018, awarding him Rs 85 lakh, which has not been set aside.

Earlier, the division bench comprising Justice M M Sundresh and Justice Krishnan Ramasamy has set aside the order awarding Rs 1.93 crore to the family of a businessman who had died in an accident. Reprimanding the presiding officer, the bench had also issued a direction to the Registrar General of the High Court to take appropriate action against him by initiating departmental proceedings.