High Court Karnataka High Court

New India Assurance Co Ltd vs Smt Asha Prasad on 2 November, 2010

Karnataka High Court
New India Assurance Co Ltd vs Smt Asha Prasad on 2 November, 2010
Author: N.K.Patil And H.S.Kempanna
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BANGALORE

DATED THIS THE 21*") DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2010

PRESENT

THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE N.K.PATI§TT 'A;---:   

AND

THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE-_H.S.KEM1§AN1"€A'  

M.F'.A.NO.10853/.2066-.(1VI'Q     

M.F.A.NO.1180_9_/'2-,O06_ (MV"p~. _ _i

M.F.A.NO.10863/2006"{3.QN)     A

BETWEEN:     '

NEW INDLMASSURANCEAVCOA.' I
REPRESENTED BY DIvIs'I0NALTAMA_NAGER,
4TH FLOOR, TOWER B}:-,0(?.K,,_  '

J.C. ROAD,  - -_  

BANGALORE. 

... APPELLANT

(EY éR1.V1i;'JAiT5RAf5 'ASH -- AEV.)

AND--::"---   A

SMT.ASHA_vP}?ASAD,
' MAJOR .. '

.' SRI.AN';D,RATVIANNA
"Mr',J0.R.,

  V I  SARASWATHI
'  " ~1\/VIAJOR

'ALL ARE RESIDING AT NO.47/ 1,
157 FLOOR, 4?" TEMPLE STREET,



 'BET?

2
PANDARI BAI COMPOUND.
KODANDARAMAPURA,
MALLESWARAM
BANGALORE -- 3

4. SRLSYED SALLALUDDDIN
MAJOR
S/O SYED MEHABOOB
R/AT STJOIIN QUARTERS,
BANGALORE. ...RESPONDENT;3_

(BY SRLR. KRISHNA REDDY A 'FOR .1    A
NOTICE TO R-4 DISPENSED WITH,\],'.Q DATED 13.08.09}

THIS MFA IS F1LED_'jIUNDEIV-I .SECTION 173(1) OF MV
ACT AGA1NST TIIE JUDG'MENT,= AND}..AwARD DATED
20.06.2006 PASSED IN MV,C'--.NO_.545'1'/.2002 'ON THE FILE
OF THE XI ADDL. -.,JU1:;1'GE, "COUR'F.._OF":SMALL CAUSES,
MEMBER, MA,CT',}r~'ME'I'ROPOLITAN' AREA, BANGALORE
[SCCH NO, '-1,AvgARD.INGV  COMPENSATION OF
?I6,81,180/'--  INTERE$T_ @"6%; RA. FROM THE DATE
OF 1>ETITIONf1"I,LL  

M.1«'.A.NO."1I,,§309(1T_1Q

  :

 1. 
'  'A;GED,:'A1~3OUT :34 YEARS

~--w-,-/.O LATE. £{;S.PRASAD

A 2. S§I,N;"O,RAMANNA

 AGEDAEOUT 71 YEARS
* S/Q LATE N.D.SEETIIARAMALAH

:  3".' V. SMTSARASWATHI

AGED ABOUT 60 YEARS
" W/O N.D.RAMANNA

ALL ARE RESIDING AT NO.47/ 1,
1ST FLOOR, 4T" TEMPLE STREET,

I/_W,,II_.J



JUDGMENT

These two appeals by the insurer

claimants are directed against the ”

judgment and award dated 20.62006′ V

No.545i /2002 on the file of the

Small Causes, Member, “Area, it

Bangalore [SCCH NVo’..1×2) ihereinaafter referred to as

‘Tribunal’ for short).

award 180/– with interest at 6%

p.a. fromrthieg datefiglof petition till realisation, as

against the of the claimants for a sum of

e__ on account of the death of the deceased

the road traffic accident.

-3.””v7l’hex_insurer claimed that though the Tribunal

it V’ hasidiscussed in the body of the judgment regarding the

‘ contributory negligence on the part of the deceased at

25%, it has awarded compensation to the claimants

without deducting any amount towards contributoiy

éw

to the right side of lorry, he has dashed against

offending vehicle and therefore contributory

has to be fixed at 50% on the deceased._.H,et l

our notice that though the

the body of the judgmer1t»e’regardin_’g” the

negligence on the part of the4l”‘deceased”a:t_ ‘.2150/(Vii, it has

awarded compensatieui’ _to_ gthhe’*V–_’ggel:airnants without

deducting any amount’V-towards_”»co’nt_ribiitory negligence
on the of fact, as per
the recitals rnahazar, it discloses
that the been parked properly on

the left side or tVV1″lC.’4VITtQEL4C€1:’_.if’1″‘OII1 the middle line marking.

That §:i.ridi*catedl it-was’ ‘parked towards the left side of the

road..at.,_ft. On account of the rash and negligent

drnririg by the deceased without properly

‘.V.maki’ngVlu:se4of the rest of the road which had been left

it ‘Xfiox_Vthe right side of lorry, he has dashed against

offending vehicle and therefore the contributory

negligence has to be fixed at 50% on the deceased.

,4/M

/

He further contended that the quantL:ni*.o. of

Compensation awarded to the claimants is on:wtliet’Vh_i_gher

side and it has to be reduced. Therefore.,__hjeprays i

modification of the impugned

the tribunal.

7. As against this, for the
claimants, interaiiag:_,,._..l:”Cor’ite3’_idle’d.Aland vehemently
submitted that negligence on the
part of Tribunal is not
sustainable offending vehicle was
parkedgin road loaded with iron beams

protruding._outsidellt.hebody of the trailer, unattended

and..iyithout any .s__1’g_n..al or indication or caution to the

other 1<oad:4usve.rs. The fact that the place where the

xl/ehicle parked was dark and the vehicles or any

T_othe:r .ob}ects in the front was not Visible are not in

A From the recitals in the panchanarna it is clear

that the deceased has applied brakes in order to avoid

accident and that is fortified by 50 ft. tyre marks found

on the road. This aspect of the matter has not been

%W

I0

looked into, considered by the Tribunal in fmin:g"*.the

contributory negligence. Further, he contended

compensation awarded to the claimants of i

dependency and conventional heladsis cj:.n1the.'iovvenisidre.'

and it requires enhancement modifying the

impugned judgment and award:

8. After careful suhmissions
of the counsel on both arise for
our follows :~

i) fixed on the

p’art–.oi; at ”25% and on the driver of

the offeiiding at 75%, is just and proper?

ii) ._%:«:.Wr:etherV”t’l’ie ,quantum of compensation awarded to

” ‘V .. vtheclairtnants is just and reasonable?

point No.1 : After careful perusal of

;’Exs,P1. P5, what emerges is that, charge sheet as per

has been filed against the driver of the offending

T “vehicle which is not in dispute. Further, it is crystal

it clear from the perusai of Ex.P2–sketch and _Ex.P4~

L.

12

perusal of the evidence on record, both oralldand

documentary, what emerges is that, had

driven his car slowly he could have avoided.

since it is evident from the records:.that;’–_on_’seeing’ the

truck being parked, he had triedlto ‘apply”b1fal;e is

evident from the tyre marks road’ extent of
about 50 ft. The T1’ibi_rnal ivrightlylooked into this
aspect of the matter andhas pthvellllfinding of fact
holding the part of the

deceasedp__ValsQl”‘tn;:the».,_e:§tleAn’t«.oiVV_2:S%, which is just and

proper; Afterlr’freaplpreciation of the oral and

documentary evider1ce,.’.’_i;rJe also concur with the said

of the Tribunal while fixing the contributory

negligencey :at°*2\5% on the deceased and 75% on the

driver offending vehicle and therefore,

C_interteren_ce by this Court is not cailed for.

Re.Poin.t No.2 :-

The occurrence of the accident and the resultant

it death of the deceased are not in dispute. The deceased

was aged about 35 years working as a Development

/4,¢¢—-«”””””

/Mr’

13

Officer in LIC drawing salary of ?30,836/- p.m.;’*plus

incentives. The learned counsel on both sid.e_s._’__’aftei’..p

evaluation of the material on record pointed..gorit

after deducting income tax andgvproifessilon

income of the deceased comes to’._?26,744′}*’«:..

accept the same. Out of deducted
towards the personal ..the”deceased and we
arrive at the net p.111. Having
regard to 35 years, by
applying appropriate multiplier
app1icalole–_ the compensation

towards llosstlofldepenrdeizcy at ?34,23,360/– {@7830 x

i’~Accordingly,y.we award a sum of ?34,23,360/-

“:2 towards_ Iossyglof dependency.

ll ” is not in dispute that the deceased was

Igthe solelllrlgrelad winner in the family. On account of the

it lffuntimely death of the deceased, the first claimant, wife

ofggdeceased, has lost her life partner at the young age

and claimants 2 and 3, parents, have lost the love and

affection of their son and their security, future hopes

yaw