IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. FAO No.872/2009 Date of Decision:11.2.2009 United India Insurance Co.Ltd. ..........Appellant. Versus Ranjit Singh and others. ..........Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH. Present: Mr.Ravinder Arora,Advocate for the appellant-Insurance Co. JASWANT SINGH,J(Oral). Appellant-United India Insurance Company Limited has directed this appeal against the award dated 23.10.2008 passed by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Fast Track Court, Kurukshetra (for short the learned Tribunal) whereby it partly allowed two claim Petitions bearing no. 12 and 13 of 2008 and held the appellant Insurance Company alongwith driver and owner of the offending tractor to be jointly and severally liable to pay the compensation to the claimants in the aforesaid claim petitions. The present appeal is directed only qua the award rendered in claim petition no.13 of 2008, whereby claimant-respondent no.1 Ranjit Singh has been awarded a compensation of Rs. 1 lac on account of injuries suffered by him in a motor vehicular accident involving the offending tractor, of which the appellant is Insurer. The grounds on which the award is being challenged are that (i) the offending tractor was not involved in the accident as the FIR was registered against unknown vehicle; (ii) there is a delay of 3 days in lodging the FIR; (iii) and the FAO No.872/2009 -2- number of vehicle was introduced after 13 days. After hearing the learned counsel and perusing the record, I do not find any merit in these submissions and the appeal is liable to be dismissed. The learned Tribunal in paras 15 and 16 of the impugned award, while recording finding under Issue No.1, has found that both the injured-claimants had suffered multiple injuries and were admitted in Government Medical College & Hospital, Chandigarh and no one else could have provided the registration number. In these circumstances, if registration number of the offending tractor was supplied by one of the claimants after his discharge from the hospital, it was only natural and very much in the fitness of the things. Further, it has come on record that at the time of accident respondent no.1-claimant was driving the motorcycle and his minor nephew-the other claimant in claim petition no.12/2008, was riding pillion behind him. Immediately, after the accident on account of their having suffered injuries, they were firstly taken to LNJP Hospital, Kurukshetra and from there they were referred to PGI Chandigarh. In such critical moments, first priority of the claimants would have been to get treatment rather than recording of prompt FIR. Moreover, Police does take its own time to record the statement of the injured/victim, and that too only after the injured/patient is declared fit by the doctors. No other point has been raised. For the reasons stated above,finding no merit in this appeal the same is hereby dismissed in limine. 11.2.2009. (Jaswant Singh) joshi Judge