The court clarified that a minor cannot be held liable for an accident if evidence shows they were not driving the vehicle at the time of the incident.

JUDGMENT :

(Satish Chandra Sharma, J.)

1. Leave Granted.

2. The Appeal is arising out of the common impugned judgment and final order dated 25.05.2022 in M.F.A. No. 101253 of 2019 (MV-D) filed by Respondent Nos. 1-2/Claimants seeking enhancement of compensation and M.F.A. No. 101435 of 2019 (MV-D) filed by the Appellants/Owner of Vehicle. The High Court of Karnataka, Bench at Dharwad (hereinafter “High Court”), partly allowed the appeal filed by Respondent Nos. 1-2/Claimants and dismissed the appeal filed by Appellants/Owner.

FACTUAL MATRIX

3. The facts relevant for the disposal of the present case are that on 13.01.2016, deceased Vijay Jumnalkar, husband of the 1st claimant, father of the 2nd claimant and son of the 3rd claimant along with his friend Shri Ravi s/o Vasanath Gurav had been to Vijaya Nagar, Belagavi to meet one of his acquaintances and when both of them reached the road near Atawadkar Layout, Vijaya Nagar, offending Bolero vehicle bearing registration No. KA-22-P-1449 (hereinafter “Vehicle”) being driven by its driver in a rash and negligent manner and in high speed came from Sainandan Residency towards Atawadkar layout and dashed against the deceased. The deceased was dragged to some distance and on account of the said impact, he died on the spot. Subsequently, an FIR was lodged by Shri Ravi/complainant, who stated that Appellant No. 2/Minor was driving the offending Vehicle. The aforesaid FIR was challenged by the owner of the offending Vehicle in a Criminal Petition, but the same was dismissed by the High Court.

4. A claim petition was filed by the Respondent Nos. 1-2/Claimants u/s 166 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (hereinafter “Tribunal”) against the Appellants/Owner seeking compensation to the tune of Rs. 50,00,000/- along with interest. The Tribunal after considering the evidence on record, concluded that the accident took place due to the actionable negligence on the part of Appellant No. 2/Minor who was driving the offending Vehicle. The Tribunal granted compensation to the tune of Rs. 7,74,088/- with interest thereon at 6% per annum from the date of claim petition till date of realization.

5. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the judgment and award dated 12.02.2019 passed by the Tribunal, Respondent Nos. 1-2/Claimants filed M.F.A. No. 101253 of 2019 (MV-D) seeking enhancement of compensation while Appellants/Owner filed M.F.A. No. 101435 of 2019 (MV-D) challenging the award and praying to set aside the order passed by the Tribunal.

6. The High Court, after appreciating the evidence on record, partly allowed the appeal filed by the Respondent Nos. 1-2/Claimants, thereby enhancing the compensation to the tune of Rs. 21,82,800/- with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of petition till date of realization, as against Rs. 7,74,088/- awarded by the Tribunal and dismissed the appeal filed by the Appellants/Owner. The aforesaid enhanced compensation with interest was directed to be paid by Respondent No. 4, Insurance Company and thereafter to recover the same from the Appellants/Owner in the same proceedings under the principle of “Pay and Recover.”

7. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied by the common impugned judgment and order dated 25.05.2022 passed by the High Court dismissing the appeal of Appellants/Owner, the instant appeals have been preferred by Appellants/Owner.

8. Learned counsel for Appellant Nos. 1 and 2 have vehemently argued that Appellant No. 1 was the registered owner of the offending vehicle, and it was being used by Appellant No. 1’s friend, the father of Appellant No. 2 who had paid the insurance premium and held a valid driving license. While acknowledging the occurrence of the accident, the Appellants argued that the incident was caused due to negligence on part of the deceased himself.

8.1 Additionally, it was contended that Appellant No. 2, who was a minor at the time of occurrence of incident, was not involved in the accident as he was m