Civil Revision No.1094 of 2008 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Revision No. 1094 of 2008 Date of decision: November 17, 2008 Joginder Singh …..PETITIONER Versus Budh Ram and Others …..RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON’BLE MR JUSTICE T.P.S.MANN PRESENT: Mr J.S.Saneta, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr Ajit Attri, Advocate for Mr Ashit Malik, Advocate for respondent Nos.1 and 2. Mr Sanjiv Pabbi, Advocate for respondent No.3. T.P.S.MANN, J. While filing the petition under Sections 166/140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the claimant-petitioner stated that on 6.12.2005, he along with one Mange Ram was going on a moped, which was being driven by him and when they reached near Delhiwala Dera in the area of Village Shiwani Khera, Budh Ram-respondent while driving his motor cycle bearing No. HR-07A-7665 at a high speed and in a rash and negligent manner came from the opposite direction. Said Budh Ram Civil Revision No.1094 of 2008 -2- brought his motor cycle on to the wrong side of the road and dashed the same against the moped of the petitioner, as a result of which, the petitioner and his companion Mange Ram fell on the road and received injuries. He, accordingly, sought an amount of Rs.3,00,000/- along with interest as compensation from Budh Ram, driver of the offending motor cycle, Smt Satya Devi, owner of the said vehicle and United Insurance Company, with which the motor cycle stood insured on the date of the accident. The aforementioned registration number of the offending vehicle was also mentioned in column No.14 of the claim petition, besides column No.25. However, in both the columns the registration number was corrected so as to be read as HR-07F-7665, but the said correction/cuttings were not initialed by the petitioner. Accordingly, during the trial of the case, an objection was raised by the Insurance Company, which compelled the petitioner to file an application for amendment of the petition so that registration number of the offending vehicle as mentioned in the claim petition be read as HR-07F-7665, instead of HR-07A-7665. This application filed by the petitioner was, however, dismissed by learned Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Kurukshetra vide impugned order dated 18.2.2008, which stands challenged by him by filing the present revision under Article 227 of the Constitution of India. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that at the time of filing of the claim petition, vehicle No. HR-07A-7665 was wrongly typed and was corrected so as to read as HR-07F-7665. However, the cuttings could not be initialed. Pleading that the mistake in Civil Revision No.1094 of 2008 -3- the description of the registration number of the offending motor cycle was only clerical in nature and no prejudice would be caused to the respondent, it has been prayed that the revision be accepted and while setting aside the impugned order, the application filed by the petitioner for amendment of his petition be allowed. Learned counsel for respondent No.3 i.e. the Insurance Company opposed the prayer and stated that the petitioner has fabricated the registration number in the petition by over-writing the same in the claim petition. The claimant had written the registration number as HR- 07A-7665 in the petition and a copy of the same was supplied to counsel for the Insurance Company. In case the proposed amendment is allowed, the Insurance Company shall suffer an irreparable loss. Moreover, the amendment has been prayed at a belated stage, when the evidence of the parties has already been completed and the case fixed for arguments. Photocopy of the claim petition has been placed on the record of the present revision. A perusal of the same would show that in column Nos. 14 and 25 of the same, the registration number of the offending vehicle was typed as HR-07A-7665. However, at all the places there is correction/cuttings done with the help of a pen so that registration number of the offending vehicle be read as HR-07F-7665, instead of HR-07A-7665. It is a fact that the correction/cuttings have not been initialed, either by the claimant or by his counsel, who had filed the claim petition. At the same time, there is nothing on the record that such corrections/cuttings had been made at a later stage and not at the Civil Revision No.1094 of 2008 -4- time of filing of the claim petition. Under these circumstances, it can safely be assumed that during typing of the claim petition, the registration number of the offending motor cycle was wrongly mentioned as HR-07A-7665, in place of HR-07F-7665. However, before the claim petition could be filed/instituted in the learned Tribunal, necessary corrections had already been carried out in the registration number of the offending vehicle, but may be by over-sight or inadvertence, these corrections/cuttings were notinitialed either by the claimant-petitioner or by his counsel. Another fact that cannot be lost sight of is that in common parlance, the registration number of the vehicle is generally described by the last four numerical digits. Those digits had been correctly described in the claim petition. Only mistake which occurred during the typing of the claim petition was in relation to series assigned for the registration of the vehicle, though it cannot be said that the same was not an essential part of the registration number assigned to the offending vehicle. Viewed from any angle, it can safely be assumed that the mistake which occurred in the description of the registration number of the offending vehicle in the claim petition was, either typographical or clerical which crept in because of over-sight or inadvertence on the part of the claimant-petitioner and also his counsel, while filing the claim petition. Under these circumstances, this Court has no other option but to permit the amendment of the claim petition so that the registration number of the offending vehicle be read as HR-07F-7665, in place of HR-07A-7665. Civil Revision No.1094 of 2008 -5- Resultantly, the revision is accepted and the impugned order passed by learned Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Kurukshetra is set aside. The application for amendment of the claim petition is allowed and the reference to the registration number of the offending vehicle as stated in paras 14 and 25 of the claim petition be read as HR-07F-7665, in place of HR-07A-7665. November 17, 2008 (T.P.S.MANN) Pds. JUDGE