Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 – s.163A – Fatal accident – A car dashed into a truck, resulting in the death of three persons including the driver of the vehicle and injuring two others, all of them were travelling in the car – Claim petition u/s.163A filed by appellantsparents of the deceased driver – Allowed by the Tribunal – However, High Court held that since the deceased driver was the tortfeasor and responsible for causing accident, therefore, compensation could not have been awarded and absolved the insurer of the liability – On appeal, held: Insurer cannot raise a defence of negligence on the part of the victim to counter a claim for compensation in a proceeding u/s.163A – Permission to raise such a defence in a proceeding u/s.163A of the Act would bring the proceeding at par u/s.166 of the Act, which would be inconsistent with the legislative intention – The impugned judgment of the High Court absolving the insurer set aside and the order of the Tribunal restored. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Sunil Kumar & Anr. AIR 2017 SC 5710 – relied on.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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