Case Facts:
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Miscellaneous Appeal No.677 of 2011 ====================================================== National Insurance Company Through Sri Anjani Kumar A.O. Cum and Duly constituted Attorney National insurance Company Ltd. Regional Office 4th Floor Sone Bhawan B.C. Patel Road P.O. G.P.O., P.S. Sachiwalaya Patna District Patna. .... .... Appellant/s Versus 1. Hemanti Devi Wife of Nilesh Choudhary. 2. Neha Kumari daughter of Nilesh Choudhary. 3. Swati Kumari daughter of Nilesh Choudhary. 4. Shubham Shrestha son of Nilesh Choudhary. 5. Shilpi Kumari daughter of Nilesh Choudhary. 6. Sumanti Kumari daughter of Nilesh Choudhary. 7. Saloni Kumari daughter of Nilesh Choudhary. 8. Saurabh Shrestha son of Nilesh Choudhary. All residents of Village Samspur, P.O. and P.S. Fatwah, District Patna. 9. Ashok Singh Son of Ram Bali Singh, resident of village Pipra Divas, P.S. Barauni, District Begusarai. 10. Rajiv Kumar Son of Sri Ram Tanuk Singh, Resident of village Bihat (Tola Makasaspha), P.S. Barauni, District Begusarai. .... .... Respondent/s ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR ORAL ORDER 4 26-04-2012 Heard Shri Ashok Priyadarshi, learned counsel for the appellant on Interlocutory Application i.e. I.A. No.2350 of 2012 for condoning delay in filing the appeal. Delay of 130 days has occurred in filing the appeal. In view of the ground set forth in the petition, delay in filing the appeal stands condoned. Patna High Court MA No.677 of 2011 (4) dt.26-04-2012 2 / 5 2 The present appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act,1988 has been preferred against the judgment dated 23.9.2010 and award dated 20.1.2011 passed by Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Tribunal Cum 6th Additional District Judge, Patna in Claim Case No.80 of 2007. The learned tribunal, while allowing the claim petition, has directed the insurer/appellant of offending vehicle to pay total compensation amount of Rs.4,09,500/- along with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of filing of claim petition to the claimants. The compensation amount includes consortium funeral expenses and loss of estate. The appeal has been primarily preferred on the ground that the driver of the offending vehicle was not having valid driving license and as such the appellant i.e. Insurance Company of the offending vehicle was not liable to pay the compensation amount, but owner/driver were liable to pay the Patna High Court MA No.677 of 2011 (4) dt.26-04-2012 3 / 5 3 compensation amount. Short fact of the case is that on 7.1.2007, while one Nilesh Choudhary was moving on a motorcycle, a Bus bearing registration no.BR-9A00801 being driven rashly and negligently dashed the motorcycle causing serious injury and on the spot itself, Nilesh Choudhary died. Thereafter, an F.I.R. vide Fatuha P.S. Case No.6 of 2007 was registered for the offence under [STATUTE] against the driver of the offending Bus. The postmortem examination was conducted on the dead body of the deceased and subsequently, complaint petition was filed by respondent nos.1 to 8. Respondent no.1 is the widow of deceased Nilesh Choudhary and respondent nos.2 to 8 are daughters/sons of the deceased. Before the claim tribunal, it was established that the offending vehicle was insured at the time of accident by the appellant. Before the Patna High Court MA No.677 of 2011 (4) dt.26-04-2012 4 / 5 4 tribunal, the owner and driver had also appeared and brought on record driving license to show that driver having valid license was driving the vehicle at the time of accident. However, the Insurance Company disputed the legality of the driving license. The Insurance Company also raised dispute that offending bus was not having valid road permit and as such the owner of the vehicle had violated terms and conditions of the Insurance policy. However, before the tribunal, no cogent evidence was brought on record by the Insurance Company to demolish the claim raised by the owner and driver of the vehicle that the driver was having valid driving license. Even though on the record, there were no such evidence, the learned tribunal, while allowing the claim petition granted liberty to the insurer/appellant for recovery of compensation amount after verification of driving license, route permit and also Patna High Court MA No.677 of 2011 (4) dt.26-04-2012 5 / 5 5 Insurance policy. On perusal of the impugned judgment and award, the court is satisfied that the learned tribunal has committed no error warranting any interference with the same. I do not find any merit in the appeal. The appeal stands dismissed. In view of dismissal of the appeal, the office is required to remit back the statutory amount, which was deposited at the time of filing of the appeal so that payment may be made to the respondent/claimants. N.H./- (Rakesh Kumar, J)

Applicable IPC Section: 279

Statute Text:
Section 279 of the Indian Penal Code. Driving or riding on a public way so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life, etc. Whoever drives any vehicle, or rides, on any public way in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life, or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.