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HDFC ERGO General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Mukesh Kumar

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 4576 of 2021)Decided 3 Aug 2021
Civil Appeal No. 4576 of 2021
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul · Justice Hrishikesh Roy

Background

This is a partly final order, not a final judgment on the full claim. The Delhi High Court had directed the insurer to keep paying for maintenance and replacement of an accident victim's prosthetic limb on a continuing basis. HDFC ERGO appealed.

Decision Breakdown

This is not a final judgment on the amount payable. The Court held that courts cannot order open-ended, continuing payment for a prosthetic limb; such costs must be built into a one-time lump-sum award. It set aside paragraphs 7 to 9 of the High Court's order. It did not fix the lump sum. The claimant was to file an affidavit with cost documents within four weeks, the insurer could reply in two weeks, and the case was listed after six weeks for the Court to fix the amount.

Lesson Learnt

Future prosthetic costs should be paid as a single lump sum, not as an open-ended order. The amount in this case was still to be decided.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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