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Nishan Singh & Ors. v. Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. Through Regional Manager & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 431Decided 27 Apr 2018
Civil Appeal No. 10145 of 2016
Chief Justice Dipak Misra · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud

Background

A woman died after the Maruti car she was travelling in collided with the back of a truck on a narrow road. Her husband and children filed a compensation claim alleging the truck driver suddenly braked and swerved, causing the crash, but the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal found instead that the car itself had been following the truck too closely and was being driven rashly, and dismissed the claim entirely; the Uttarakhand High Court upheld this finding. The family appealed to the Supreme Court, challenging the finding that the car driver, not the truck driver, was at fault.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the concurrent factual findings of the Tribunal and High Court that the car was following the truck at only 10-15 feet on a 14-foot-wide road, violating the rule requiring a "sufficient distance" between vehicles (Rule 23, Rules of the Road Regulations, 1989), and that there was no evidence the truck driver braked suddenly or negligently. However, the Court noted that the Tribunal had overlooked Section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which creates a "no-fault" liability on a vehicle's owner for a fixed, limited compensation regardless of who was actually negligent. Since the subject truck was involved in the accident, its owner and insurer remained liable for this no-fault amount even though the truck driver was not at fault for the accident itself. The Court therefore partly allowed the appeal, awarding Rs. 50,000 under Section 140 with 9% interest from the date of filing, while rejecting the main claim for fault-based compensation.

Lesson Learnt

Under Section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, a victim of a motor accident can claim a fixed "no-fault" compensation from the vehicle owner/insurer simply because that vehicle was involved in the accident: this is available even in cases where the claimant otherwise loses on the main compensation claim because that particular vehicle's driver is found not negligent.

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

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