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Sunita & Ors. v. Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation & Anr.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 200Decided 14 Feb 2019
Civil Appeal No. 1665 of 2019
Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Justice Ajay Rastogi

Background

Sitaram, a government school teacher, died in 2011 when his motorcycle was hit by a Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation bus allegedly being driven rashly on the wrong side of the road. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awarded his widow, children and parents about Rs. 48.3 lakh in compensation, holding the bus driver negligent based on an eyewitness, the FIR and charge-sheet. The High Court of Rajasthan reversed this in a short 5-page judgment, holding the eyewitness unreliable and the motorcycle rider himself negligent, and dismissed the claim entirely. The widow and children appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had taken an unduly hyper-technical, criminal-trial-like approach (requiring proof beyond reasonable doubt) when motor accident claims only require proof on the lower "preponderance of probability" standard. It found the Tribunal's detailed 24-page analysis of the FIR, charge-sheet, post-mortem report and eyewitness testimony to be sound, and that the High Court wrongly discarded the eyewitness merely because he wasn't named in the criminal case witness list and couldn't recall the pillion rider's age, and wrongly relied on an unproved site-plan in isolation. Non-examination of the pillion rider (the "best" witness) was also not fatal to the claim. The Court restored the Tribunal's original compensation award in full, setting aside the High Court's judgment.

Lesson Learnt

In motor accident compensation claims, courts must apply the lenient "preponderance of probability" standard, not the strict criminal standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt, so a claim should not be thrown out merely because a witness has minor gaps in memory or wasn't listed in the police charge-sheet.

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

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