c^ y IN THE HON'BLE HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR (CHHATTISGARHl M.A.fQ No.^P of 2010 APPELLANTS ^ON-APPLICANT ./No. 1 & 2 ^^ :^y ^' ^' H^^'' :1) Suresh Kuraeir @ Santosh ^ Kumar Mongre, S/o. Panditdas Mongre, aged 28 years, Occupation Driver, R/o. Bhai-Bahan Nala, P.S. Moti Nala, District Mandla (M.P.) Presently at Pondi, P.S. Bodla, District Kabirdham (C.G.) ^2) Murtaza Ali Khan, S/o. Lal ^ Mohammed Khan, aged 50 years, , Occupation Vehicle Owner, R/o. Pondi, P.S. Bodla, District Kabirdham (C.G.) Versus s,.: 1 ^RESPONDENTS :1> ^ Saam Bai, Wd/o. Amar Singh Sahu, aged 40 years, :2) ^ Sudarshan, S/o. Amar Singh Sahu, aged 22 years, Both R/o. Bhoramdev Road, In front of Holicross School, Kawardha, District Kabirdham (C.G.) CLAIMANTS ^ Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. Kamthi Line, Rajnandgaon (C.G.) :4) ^Sunita, D/o. Amar Singh / Sahu, W/o. Bhagwati Sahu, aged 20 years, Occupafion House wife, R/o. Villa.ge Lenjakhar, P.S. Bodla, Tahsil Kawardha District Kabirdham (C.G.) .^J ^^anjita D/o. Amar | Singh Sahu, W/o. Dwarikai Sahu, aged 19 years, Occupation Housewife, R/o. Bairagpara, Pandariya, Tahsil Pandariya, District Kabirdham (C.G.) NON-APPLICANT No. 3 to 5 APPEAL UNDER SECTION 173 OF MOTOR VEHICLES ACT. ^^^ HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH : BILASPUR M.A. rQNo. 613 of 2010 Appellants Suresh Kumar alias Santosh Kumar Mongre & another Versus Respondents Saam Bai 85 others APPEAL UNDER SECTION 173 OF TjiEJvIOTQR VEHICLES ACT, 1988 DB: Hon'ble Shri Justice I. M. Quddusi & Hon'ble Shri Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, JJ Shri H. B. Aganval, Senior Advocate with Ms Meera Jayaswal, Advocate for the appellants. Shri Malay Shriyastava, Advocate for the respondents No. 1, 2, 4 &5. Shri Sudhir Agarwal, Advocate for the respondent No.3. ORDER (Oral) ( Passed on this 25th day ofFebruaiy, 2011 ) Per I. M. Quddusi, J. 1. This appeal has been filed by the driver and owner of the offending vehicle against the impugned award dated 14.5.2010, passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Kabirdham (Kawardha) in Claim Case No. 19/2008, awarding a sum of Rs. 3,42,000/- as compensation to the claimants, holding the non-applicants No. 1 and 2 (present appellants - driver and owner) jointly or severally liable to pay the amount of compensation, exonerating the insurance company from any liability. 2. The, brief facts, in nutshell, are that on 30.11.2007 at about 4.30 a.m. in the morning deceased Amar Singh was going to Ramhpur by tractor, which was being driven by himself in the capacity of a driver. When he reached near New Mandi Complex, Kawardha, the Truck, bearing registration No. C.G. 09-B/0172, which was being driven in a rash and negligent manner by the non-applicant No.l, hit the tractor. As a result of that accident Amar Singh died on the spot. The offence was registered in the Police Station- Kawardha. The claimants, being legal heirs of the deceased filed a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for award of a total compensation of Rs. 7,00,000/- under various heads. Learned Claims Tribunal having regard to the facts situation and the evidence on record awarded a total sum of Rs. 3,42,000/- as compensation to the claimants, holding the non-applicants No. 1 and 2 (present appellants - driver and owner) jointly or severally liable to pay the amount of compensation, exonerating the insurance company from any liability. The grievance of the appellants is that the insurance company has wrongly been exonerated and the liability has wrongly been imposed upon the appellants, whereas the driverof the offending vehicle was having the valid and effective driving licence on the date of accident. We have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the lower Court record. It is evident that in fact the police seized the driving licence of Santosh Kumar Mongre S/o Pandit Das Mongre, which was effective from 8.12.2007 to 7.12.2008. The arrested person also disclosed his name as Santosh Kumar Mongre. The medical office of the district hospital Kabirdham on 30.11.2007 also done MLC x-ray and a report was submitted as 'fracture on /^ y t i te ^ '"^'^tes 8. 'w. right fibula bone upper 3rd? and he written the name of the patient as Santosh Kumar S/o Pandit Ram. It is also necessary to notice that the person arrested furnished his bail bonds as Santosh Kumar S/6 Pandit Ram on 30.11.2007. The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kabirdham (Kawardha) accepted the same but later on the person appeared and disclosed his name as Suresh S/o Hari Das and submitted another driving licence. During the course of arguments Shri Sudhir Agarwal, learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.3 Insurance Company has submitted that since the driver of the offending vehicle was not a genuine person and Santosh Kumar was not having a valid and effective driving licence, the insurance company was rightly exonerated. Since the date and period of validity of the driving licence of Santosh Kumar was given by the police in seizure memo and the driving licence of Suresh Kumar was filed later on, therefore, first of all the Tribunal should have conducted an enquiry as to whefher in fact the vehicle was being driven by Santosh Kumar or Suresh Kumar. The police record should have been summoned and the copy ofthe driving licence seized by the police should have been perused so that the insurance company could have got knowledge about the licence number and issuing licensing authority of the licence of Suresh Kumar also. This has not been done in the present case. Before proceeding further it is necessary to peruse the relevant provisions of law, which are quoted herein below i.e. Section 169 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Rule 226 of the Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh Motor Vehicles Rules, 1994. f£.^l: •x^- ^yy '^. wy 10. 11. " 169. Procedure and powers of Clainis Tribunals. - (1) In holding any inquiry under section 168, the Claims Tribunal may, subject to any rules that may be made in this behalf, follow such summary procedure as it thinks fit. (2) The Claims Tribunal shall have all the powers of a Civil Court for the purpose of taking evidence on oath and of enforcing the attendance of witnesses and of compelling the discovery and production of documents and material objects and for such other purposes as may be prescribed; and the Claims Tribunal shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for all the purposes of section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974). (3) Subject to any rules that may be made in this behalf, the Claims Tribunal may, for the purpose of adjudicating upon any claim for compensation, choose one or more persons possessing special knowledge of and matter relevant to the inquiry to assist it in holding the inquiiy/' 226. OBTAINING OF INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS NECESSARY FOR AWARDING COMPENSATION UNDER SECTION 40-. The Claims Tribunal shall obtain whatever information and documents which may be found necessary from the police, Medical and other authorities and proceed to award the claim whether the parties who were given notice, appear or not, on the appointed date. It is apparent that the Tribunal has not exercised its powers in accordance with the provisions of Section 169 of the Act, 1988 as well as Rule 226 of the Rules, 1994. Therefore we are of the opinion that the matter requires reconsideration at the end of the Tribunal. For the reasons stated herein above, we allow this appeal in part, set-aside the impugned award dated 14.5.2010 and remit back the matter to the Tribunal for decision afresh in the light of the observations made herein above, in accordance with the "'^-%^'^'^ 1 y ^ provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 as well as the Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh Motor Vehicles Rules, 1994. No order as to costs. 12. Needless to mention that the parties shall be allowed to amend their pleadings, adduce further evidence again in support of their pleadings and may file further documents andget the documents verified etc. Thereafter, the decision shall be made by the Tribunal on merits. 13. The parties shall appear before the Claims Tribunal concerned on6thApril, 2011. Sd/- LM.Quddusi Judge Sd//- Prashant Kumar Mishra Judge ^ (D Thakur