The court established that in motor accident claims, the burden of proof lies with the claimants, and compensation must be assessed based on reliable income documentation.

JUDGMENT :

NUPUR BHATI, J.

1. The civil misc. appeals - S.B. CMA Nos. 331/2014, 333/2014 and 334/2014 have been preferred by the insurance company under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter as ‘the Act’) against the common judgment and award dated 28.11.2013 (hereinafter as ‘the impugned award’) passed by MACT(I), Jodhpur (hereinafter as ‘the learned tribunal’) in MAC Case Nos. 764/2010, 762/2010 and 763/2010 respectively.

The Civil Misc. Appeals - S.B. CMA Nos. 287/2014 and 288/2014, seeking enhancement, have been preferred by the claimants under Section 173 of the Act and Civil Misc. Cross Objection Nos. 154/2019 and 21/2020, seeking enhancement, have been preferred by the claimants under Order 41 Rule 22, Code of Civil Procedure against the impugned award passed by the learned tribunal in MAC Case Nos. 764/2010 and 763/2010 respectively. All of the aforesaid appeals and respective cross-objections have been preferred/filed against the impugned award passed by the learned tribunal, whereby the learned tribunal has partly allowed the claim petitions-MAC Case Nos. 762/2010, 763/2010, 764/2010 and 765/2010 and awarded compensation of Rs. 23,46,972/-, Rs. 5,00,000/-, Rs. 5,00,000/- and Rs. 5,000/- respectively along with interest @8.5%. Since all of these appeals and cross-objections arise from the common impugned award and are related to the same accident, the same are being decided by this common judgment and the facts of S.B. CMA No. 287/2014 are being taken illustratively for the sake of convenience. Thus, hereinafter the claimants would be referred to as appellants/claimants (and as Appellant nos. 1, 2 and 3 when referred to in their individual capacity) and the insurance company would be referred to as respondent/insurance company and the owner-driver of the offending vehicle would be referred to as respondent/owner.

2. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that on 25.07.2010, Amit (the appellant no. 1 herein), Jyoti (32 years), Harshil (4 years) and Avina (8 years) were travelling in the car bearing registration No. RJ14 CJ 4314 (hereinafter as ‘the car’) from Jodhpur to Jaipur and at around 6:00 PM near Bisalpur Toll Naka (near Gaushala), the Scorpio Car bearing registration No. RJ-19-UB-0061 (hereinafter as ‘the offending vehicle’) being driven by Bhanwar Singh (hereinafter as ‘the respondent/owner’) in a rash and negligent manner, came from opposite direction into wrong side and dashed into the car and as a result of the accident Jyoti, Harshil and Avina died and appellant no. 1 suffered injuries. Subsequently, the MAC Case Nos. 762/2010, 763/2010 and 765/2010 were filed before the learned tribunal claiming compensation on account of death of Jyoti, Harshil and Avina respectively and MAC Case No. 765/2010 was filed by appellant no. 1 claiming compensation on account of injuries suffered by him in the accident.

3. The respondent/owner in his reply to the claim petition denied the averments made by the appellants/claimants in their respective claim petitions and averred that he has been falsely implicated with a view to receive the compensation.

4. The respondent/insurance company in its reply denied the averments made in the respective claim petitions.

5. On the basis of pleadings of the parties the learned tribunal framed four issues.

6. The appellants/claimants examined appellant no. 1 as witness and produced documentary evidences (Ex.1 to Ex.52).

7. The respondent/insurance company examined one witness and produced documentary evidences (Ex. A/1 and Ex. A/2) and also filed application under Section 170 of the Act which was allowed vide order dated 03.11.2012.

8. After hearing all the parties and perusing the material available on record the learned tribunal partly allowed the claim petitions filed by the respective claimants and awarded Rs. 23,46,792/- (in MAC Case No. 762/2010), Rs. 5,00,000/- (in MAC Case No. 763/2010), Rs. 5,00,000/- (in MAC Case No. 764/2010) and Rs. 5,000/- (in MAC Case No. 765/201