INDRA DEVI & ORS. versus BAGADA RAM & ANR.

Citation: [2010] 10 S.C.R. 347 · Decided: 18-08-2010 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: AFTAB ALAM · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

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Judgment (excerpt)

[2010] 10 S.C.R. 347 
INDRA DEVI & ORS. 
v. 
BAGADA RAM & ANR. 
(Civil Appeal No. 1508 of 2004) 
AUGUST 18, 2010 
[AFTAB ALAM AND R.M. LODHA, JJ.] 
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988: 
A 
B 
ss. 140 and 166 - 'No fault compensation' - Tribunal c 
while rejecting the claim petition filed u/s 166 against the 
ensured and ensurer for death of the victim, on the ground 
that the accident occurred due to careless and negligent 
driving of deceased himself, directing refund of no fault 
compensation along with interest - High Court affirming the 0 
order - HELD: The impugned direction is clearly erroneous 
and unsustainable in law - The Tribunal has completely failed 
to realise the true nature and character of the compensation 
in terms of s. 140 of the Act - The marginal heading to s. 140 
describes it as based 'on the principle of no fault' - As the E 
expression 'no fault' suggests, the compensation uls 140 is 
regardless of any wrongful act, neglect or default of the person 
in respect of whose death the claim is made - In view of the 
judgment in Eshwarappa's case*, the Tribunal was patently in 
error, in directing for refund to the insurance company of 
amount of 'no fault compensation' already paid to the 
F 
claimants,- High Court was equally in error in missing out this 
grave mistake in the judgment and order passed by the 
Tribunal and not setting it aside - Order of Tribunal insofar 
as it permits the insurance company to recover the amount 
of interim compensation along with interest from the claimants G 
set aside - Interpretation of Statutes. 
Interpretation of Statutes: 
347 
H 
348 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2010] 10 S.C.R. 
A 
Aid to construction - Marginal heading - Relevancy of 
B 
*Eshwarappa @ Maheshwarappa and Anr. decided by 
Supreme Court on 18.10.2010 - relied on. 
Case Law Reference: 
CA No. 7049 of 2002 
relied on 
para 6 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 
1508 of 2004. 
C 
From the Judgment & Order dated 20.08.2002 of the High 
Court of Rajasthan at Jodhpur in S.B. Civil Misc. Appeal No. 
323 of 2002. 
Aishwarya Bhati (Gp. Capt. Karan Singh Bhati) for the 
D 
Appellants. 
H.K. Puri, K. Sarada Devi for the Respondents. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
E 
AFTAB ALAM, J. 1. This is the claimant's appeal from a 
motor accident claim case. 
2. On March 31, 1999, one Ramniwas while going on a 
motorcycle dashed against the rear side of a truck that was 
headed in the same direction as the motorcycle. Ramniwas 
F 
died in the accident. His heirs and legal representatives, the 
appellants before this Court, moved the MACT, Sojat, Branch 
Jaitaran, District Pali in MACT Case No.59 of 1999 against 
the owner of the truck and its insurer, the New India Assurance 
Company Ltd. for compensation in terms of section 166 of the 
G Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. In course of the proceedings, the 
appellants claimed no fault compensation under section 140 
of the Motor Vehicles Act which was granted to them by the 
Tribunal and the compensation amount was duly paid by the 
insurance company. In the main proceeding, however, the 
H Tribunal came to find and hold that insofar as the accident is 
INDRA DEVI & ORS. v. BAGADA RAM & ANR. 
349 
[AFTAB ALAM, J.] 
concerned there was no lapse on the part of the driver of th~ A 
truck nor was it due to any mechanical fault in the truck. The 
accident was caused due to the careless and negligent driving 
of the deceased himself. On that finding, the Tribunal naturally 
rejected the claim of compensation on the principle of fault. But 
it did not stop there and went on to hold that the insurance 
B 
company was entitled to the refund of the amount of no fault 
compensation along with interest @ 9% p.a. In the operative 
portion of the judgment, the tribunal ordered as follows: 
"According to the above analysis, this claim is dismissed. C 
An amount of Rs.50,000/- has been given to the applicants 
by The New India Assurance Co. Ltd. as an interim relief 
and The India Assurance Co. Ltd. will be entitled to have 
it back with 9% interest p.a." 
3. The claimants took the matter to the High Court in 
D 
appeal (Civil Miscellaneous Appeal No.323 of 2002). The High 
Court dismissed the appeal by judgment and order dated 
August 20, 2002. The High Court agreed with the Tribunal's 
finding that the deceased alone was responsible for the 
accident and hence, the claimants were not entitled to any E 
compensation. Unfortunately, the High Court did not address 
the issue of

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