F.A.O.NO. 2642 OF 2001 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH F.A.O.NO. 2642 OF 2001 Date of decision:12th October, 2010 National Insurance Company Limited, Regional Office-II, S.C.O.337- 340, Sector 35-B, Chandigarh, through Shri L.P.Arora, A.Officer. .......Appellant Versus Smt. Surti Devi and others ........Respondents F.A.O.No. 1644 of 2001 Smt. Surti Devi wife of Sh. Kapura, Harijan, resident of village Birbadi P.S.Ratia Tehsil Ratia District Fatehabad. .........Appellant Versus Devi Singh and others .........Respondents BEFORE: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present: Mr. R.M.Suri, Advocate, for the National Insurance Company. Mr. Suvir Dewan, Advocate, for the New India Assurance Company. Mr. K.S.Dhanora, Advocate, for respondent No. 1. 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes/No 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not?Yes/No 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Yes/No K.Kannan, J.(Oral) 1. The claim arises out of death of a cleaner of a vehicle and the accident was said to have taken place on 4.9.1998 when cement bags had been loaded in a truck bearing registration no. HNG-3699 F.A.O.NO. 2642 OF 2001 2 and when the driver had given instructions to cover the cement bags with taurpaulin and tie them with rope. At that time the insured's vehicle GJ-IV-4266 came in reverse direction without noticing the deceased doing his work and crushed him between two vehicles. The accident, as spoken to by PW-2 Ramesh Kumar, who has employed by the same owner where the deceased was working was that the accident had taken place outside the factory premises in a yard. In the cross examination, it was elicited as follows:- “The yard where truck No. HNG-3699 was parked for covering the cement bags with Tarpolin was within the boundary walls of the factory. A number of trucks were parked in the yard. Truck belonging to one Banwar Singh driver was also parked at that place in the yard. I do not know the number of the truck on which Banwar Singh was employed as driver.” 2. The Tribunal found the driver of the insured to be negligent and granted compensation. While assessing the amount, the Tribunal took the income to be Rs. 2,500/-, deducted 1/3rd for personal expenses and provided for 2/3rd as contribution to the mother who was the claimant. The multiplier of 17 there adopted and Tribunal granted compensation of Rs. 3,48,000/-. 3. In appeal it is contended that the accident had taken place not in a public place and therefore, there could be no claim for F.A.O.NO. 2642 OF 2001 3 compensation against the Insurance Company. I have gone through the entire pleadings given by the appellant for the third respondent and it is nowhere stated that the accident had not occurred at a public place. On the other hand, the contention was one of general denial of the accident itself. Consequently, there was not even a point for consideration whether the accident have taken place in a public place or not. In the absence of pleading I refuse the appellant to urge for such a contention in appeal for the first time. Learned counsel refers to certain decisions which I think are not necessary traverse. I may only to say that 'public place' is any place where any member of a public has a right of access whether it is a thoroughfare or not. There are any number of cases that govern the situation where various courts have held that factory premises are public places. The liability of the Insurance Company is safely and surely secured for the claimants. The appeal by the Insurance Company is consequently, dismissed. 4. As regards the claim for enhancement of compensation, the Tribunal has taken the income of the cleaner to be Rs. 2,500/- and applied the multiplier as provided in Schedule-II. The only lapse if it could be stated is that it does not provide for loss to estate which schedule-II provides at Rs. 2,500/- that is only additional amount that could be added to the award already passed by the Tribunal. The amount shall also attract interest at 6% from the date of the petition till the date of payment. F.A.O.NO. 2642 OF 2001 4 5. The cross appeal is allowed, partly to provide for a marginal increase of what the Tribunal omitted to provide for. The appeal is disposed of as above. [K.KANNAN] JUDGE 12th October, 2010 Shivani Kaushik