Special Leave Petition Civil Nos
5228 and 5286 of 1977
From the Judgment and order dated 8 8 1977 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in FAO No 81 and 82 of 1977
P P Malhotra and R N Dikshit for the Petitioner
section K Gambhir for the Respondent
The order of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER J An explosive escalation of automobile accidents accounting for more deaths than the most deadly diseases has become a lethal phenomenon on Indian Roads everywhere
The jural impact of this tragic development on our legislatures courts and law enforcing agencies is insufficient with the result that the poor who are by and large the casualty in most of these cases suffer losses of life or limb and are deprived of expeditious legal remedies in the shape of reasonably quantified compensation promptly paid and this even after compulsory motor insurance and nationalisation of insurance business
The facts of this special leave petitions which we dismiss by this order raise two serious issues which constrain us to make a speaking order
The first deals with legal 696 rights literacy in the case of automobile accidents and the processual modalities which secure redressal of grievances
The second relates to the consequences of negligence of counsel which misleads a litigant into delayed pursuit of his remedy
Medieval roads with treacherous dangers and total disrepair explosive increase of heavy vehicles often terribly overloaded and without cautionary signals reckless drivers crazy with speed and tipsy with spirituous potions non enforcement of traffic regulations designed for safety but offering opportunities for systematised corruption and little else and as a cumulative effect mounting highway accidents demand a new dimension to the law of torts through no fault liability and processual celerity and simplicity in compensation claims cases
Social justice the command of the Constitution is being violated by the State itself by neglecting road repairs ignoring deadly overloads and contesting liability after nationalising the bulk of bus transport and the whole of general insurance business
The jurisprudence of compensation for motor accidents must develop in the direction of no fault liability and the determination of the quantum must be liberal not niggardly since the law values life and limb in a free country in generous scales
In the present case a doctor and his brother riding a motor cycle were hit by a jeep driver and both were killed
The fatal event occurred in November 1971 but the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal delivered judgment five years later awarding sums of Rs 80000 and Rs 73500 to the two sets of claimants
The delay of five years in such cases is a terrible commentary on the judicial process
If only no fault liability automatic reporting by the police who investigate the accident in a statutory proforma signed by the claimants and forward to the tribunal as in Tamil Nadu and decentralised empowerment of such tribunals in every district coupled with informal procedures and liberation from court fees and the sophisticated rules of evidence and burden of proof were introduced easy and inexpensive if the State has the will to help the poor who mostly die in such accidents law s delays in this compassionate jurisdiction can be banished
Social justice in action is the measure of the State s constitutional sensitivity
Anyway we have made these observation hopefully to help focus the attention of the Union and the States
The nationalised insurance company appealed to the High Court against the award
We have no doubt that the finding on both the 697 culpability and the quantum as rendered by the trial court are correct
But the High Court dismissed the appeal on the ground of delay dismissing the application of the petitioner for condonation under section 5 of the Limitation Act
The Accident Claims Tribunal pronounced its award on September 15 1976 after making the necessary computations and deductions
The appeal had to be filed on or before January 19 1977 but was actually filed 30 days later
Counsel for the petitioner is stated to have made the mistake in the calculation of the period of limitation
He had intimated the parties accordingly with the result that the petitioner was misled into instituting appeal late
The High Court took the view that the lawyer s ignorance about the law was no ground for condonation of delay
Reliance was placed on some decisions of the Punjab High Court and there was reference also to a ruling of the Supreme Court in  The conclusion was couched in these words The Assistant Divisional Manager of the Company appellant is not an illiterate or so ignorant person who could not calculate the period of limitation
Such like appeals are filed by such companies daily
The facts of this case clearly show as observed earlier that the mistake is not bonafide and the appellant has failed to show sufficient cause to condone the delay
 We are not able to agree with this reasoning
A company relies on its Legal Adviser and the Manager s expertise is in company management and not in law
There is no particular reason why when a company or other person retains a lawyer to advise it or him on legal affairs reliance should not be placed on such counsel
Of course if there is gross delay too patent even for layman or if there is incomprehensible indifference the shield of legal opinion may still be vulnerable
The correct legal position has been explained with reference to the Supreme Court decision in a judgment of one of us in AIR 1971 Ker 211 The law is settled that mistake of counsel may in certain circumstances be taken into account in condoning delay although there is no general proposition that mistake of counsel by itself is always a sufficient ground
It is always a question whether the mistake was bonafide or was merely a device to cover an ulterior purpose such as laches 698 on the part of the litigant or an attempt to save limitation in an underhand way
The High Court unfortunately never considered the matter from this angle
If it had it would have seen quite clearly that there was no attempt to avoid the Limitation Act but rather to follow it albeit on a wrong reading of the situation The High Court took the view that Mr Raizada being an Advocate of 34 years  standing could not possibly make the mistake in view of the clear provisions on the subject of appeals existing under Section 391 of the Punjab Courts Act and therefore his advice to file the appeal before the District Court would not come to the rescue of the appellant under Section 5 of the Limitation Act
The Supreme Court upset this approach I am of the view that legal advice given by the members of the legal profession may sometimes be wrong even as pronouncement on questions of law by courts are some times wrong
An amount of latitude is expected in such cases for to err is human and lay men as litigants are may legitimately lean on expert counsel in legal as in other departments without probing the professional competence of the advice
The court must of course see whether in such cases there is any taint of mala fides or element of recklessness or ruse
If neither is present legal advice honestly sought and actually given must be treated as sufficient cause when an application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act is being considered
The State has not acted improperly in relying on its legal advisers
 We have clarified the legal position regarding the propriety and reasonableness of companies and other persons relying upon legal opinion in the matter of computation of limitation since it is a problem which may arise frequently
If Legal Adviser s opinions are to be subjected by company managers to further legal scrutiny of their own an impossible situation may arise
Indeed Government a large litigant in this country may find itself in difficulty
That is the reason why we have chosen to explain at this length the application of section 5 vis a vis counsel s mistake
This does not automatically secure a visa for the petitioner into this Court under Article 136
There must be manifest injustice or gross misappreciation or perversity in factual findings
We have 699 examined the merits of the matter to the extent available on the record and have heard counsel for the petitioner
He has hardly convinced us that the merits of the case call for any intervention at all
In this view we are constrained to dismiss the Special Leave Petitions now that we have expressed ourselves or both the points dealt with above
SR Petitions dismissed


Summary:
A doctor and his brother riding a motor cycle were hit by a jeep driver and both were killed in November 1971 but the Motor Accident claims Tribunal delivered judgment on 5 9 1976 five years later awarding sums of Rs 80000 and Rs 73500 to the two sets of claimants
The appeal in this case had to be filed on or before 19 1 77 but was actually filed 30 days later with an application for condonation under section 5 of the Limitation Act on the ground of Counsel s mistake in the calculation of the period of limitation
The High Court dismissed the appeal and the application
Dismissing the special leave petitions the Court  HELD A company relies on its Legal Adviser and the Manager s expertise is in company management and not in law
There is no particular reason why when a company or other person retains a lawyer to advise it or him on legal affairs reliance should not be placed on such counsel
Of course if there is gross delay too patent even for layman or if there is in comprehensible indifference the shield of legal opinion may still be vulnerable
If legal Adviser s opinions are to be subjected by company managers to further legal scrutiny of their own an impossible situation may arise
Indeed Government a large litigant in this country may find itself in difficulty
697E F 698 F G This does not automatically secure a visa for the petitioner into this Court under article 136
There must be manifest injustice or gross misappreciation or perversity in factual findings
698H State of Kerala vs Krishna Kurup Madhava Kurup AIR 1971 Kerala 211 approved
State of West Bengal vs Howrah Municipal Corporation   referred to
Observations 1
The jurisprudence of compensation for motor accidents must develop in the direction of no fault liability and the determination of the quantum must be liberal not niggardly since the law values life and limb in a free 695 country in generous scales
Social justice the command of the Constitution is being violated by the State itself by neglecting road repairs ignoring deadly over loads and contesting liability after nationalising the bulk of bus transport and the whole of general insurance business
696C D 2
Medieval roads with treacherous dangers and total disrepair explosive increase of heavy vehicles often terribly overloaded and without cautionary signals reckless drivers crazy with speed and tipsy with spirituous potions non enforcement of traffic regulations designed for safety but offering opportunities for systematised corruption and little else and as a cumulative effect mounting highway accidents demand a new dimension to the law of torts through no fault liability and processual celerity and simplicity in compensation claims cases
696B C 3
If only no fault liability automatic reporting by the police who investigate the accident in a statutory proforma signed by the claimants and forwarded to the tribunal as in Tamil Nadu and decentralised empowerment of such tribunals in every district coupled with informal procedures and liberation from court fees and the sophisticated rules of evidence and burden of proof were introduced easy and inexpensive if the State has the will to help the poor who mostly die in such accidents law s delays in this compassionate jurisdiction can be banished
Social justice in action is the measure of the State s constitutional sensitivity
696F G