IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE VILAS V.AFZULPURKAR CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No.3508 of 2000 Between: Tentu Ramu ..... Appellant AND Suragani Sambasiva Rao and others. ....Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE VILAS V.AFZULPURKAR CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No.3508 of 2000 JUDGMENT : This appeal is directed against the order of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, West Godavari, Eluru, dated 04.01.2000 refusing to set aside the dismissal order passed in O.P. No.380 of 1995, in default. The said O.P. was filed by the claimant seeking compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act regarding injuries suffered by him from the use of motor vehicle. The said claim petition was coming up for trial and posted finally on 08.06.1999 and thereafter on 22.06.1999. On that day since the claimant was not available nor his counsel was present, the O.P itself was dismissed for default. Thereafter, the present I.A. No.3402 of 1999 was filed seeking to set aside the said dismissal order and the same was also dismissed on the ground that sufficient time was already given to the claimant to get ready with the trial and the reason given by the petitioner in the application seeking restoration of the said claim petition was not accepted by the tribunal below. 2) This application has been pending for the last 9 years before this Court and except the grounds mentioned in support of his application, the adjudication of his claim under the Motor Vehicles Act remains unadjudicated. The claimant has stated in the affidavit in support of the petition that the counsel asked him to wait at the Court and there was some delay on the part of the claimant in search of the Court and by the time he came to the Court, the matter was already dismissed for default. The claimant stated that the mistake committed by him should not be treated as an intentional one. 3) Under the facts and circumstances of this case, I am satisfied that an opportunity deserves to be given to the claimant to establish his case on merits before the Claims Tribunal. It is well settled that the procedural laws are designed to subserve justice and not to retard the same. The tribunal ought to have taken a liberal view to restore the claim petition, so that it would have been disposed of on merits long back. 4) I am, therefore, constrained to set aside the impugned order and restore the O.P.No.380 of 1995 on the file of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal-cum-II Additional District Judge, West Godavari at Eluru. The claims Tribunal shall issue notice to the claimants and the respondents and give them one opportunity each to adduce evidence and thereafter decide the O.P. afresh on merits in accordance with law. 5) In view of the long passage of time, both parties are allowed to file additional pleadings, if any, to bring the subsequent events to the notice of the claims tribunal. 6) Accordingly, the appeal is allowed and ordered to restore the O.P.No.380 of 1995 on the file of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal-cum-II Additional District Judge, West Godavari at Eluru. No costs. _________________________ JUSTICE VILAS V.AFZULPURKAR NOVEMBER 25, 2009 KSH